Wolf and Cyberpunk
by RedRadRussian
Summary: In the not too distant future of 2079, cities rise, corporations rule and secrets are buried. When Kraft Lawrence hears of a lucrative opportunity, he jumps at the chance. But instead of gaining a hefty profit, Lawrence finds himself caught in-between a struggle for domination and power. A struggle that all seems to revolve around one strange young girl...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: A Golden Opportunity.

The rain beat down hard, cascading from the dark gray skies above. Often colliding and ricocheting off the colossal metal skyscrapers, that sought to pierce the dark heavens themselves. I quickened my steps, the rain continuing to fall, my gaze fixed upon the tacky sign ahead of me. The buzzing neon lights reading 'Yamoto's Bar' in both English and Japanese characters. I pushed through the hordes of people that were slowly shuffling amongst the dirty street. Herding themselves like cattle, their minds and bodies solely focused on their destinations.

Brushing them aside, I sought the shelter of the restaurant, or bar, or whatever the hell it was. So long as it was dry, that would be enough for me. There was a dull droning noise from above and looking up, I spied a huge blimp suspended amongst the dark skies,weightlessly gliding high above me. The large LCD panels on the sides were blaring out a colorful advertisement, greatly contrasting the gray skyline. Slipping under the cover of the bar, I made my way inside Yamoto's. Droplets of moisture clung to my silvery gray hair, and with a quick ruffling I managed to get most of it out. Glancing around the small walk-in restaurant, I realized that it was a sushi bar, of all places.

_'Guess that explains the Japanese sign' _I thought, taking the nearest available seat near me and resting my arms on the white counter top. I watched the staff run this way and that as they prepared their various dishes to be place on a small conveyer belt, that slowly crawled past me.

I huddled in on myself, my gaze flicking to the people sitting around me. None of them looked particularly interested in my sudden arrival, which was a good thing. The less people who took notice of me, the easier my existence was. I watched small white plates adorned with tarted up seafood and rice crawl past on the moving belt.

_'What am I even doing here?'_ I thought to myself.

Reaching into my hooded jacket, I felt my fingers brush past the cool metal of the pistol I had snugly hidden inside one of it's many pockets. Reaching in further, I grabbed what I was searching for. Taking out my phone I began scouring through my messages, until I found the one I was searching for. It appeared on the display:

_'I heard you're good at what you do and I've got a small proposition for you, with great pay to match... Meet me at Yamoto's Bar, 5:00pm tomorrow. I'll be waiting for you. Come alone._

_-Z'_

I read it again and again, pondering on who this 'Z' could be. Checking the time, I saw that it was nearing five o'clock. Unease stirred in my gut. The whole thing smelled like a set up, I'm not an idiot when it came to cloak and dagger meetings... and the risks they usually involved. I made my fair share of slip-ups in this business and I've learned from them. A lot of people were looking for guys like me. The kind of people who could make you disappear and no one would ask questions as to why. So, you could say I was... skeptical, when I first got the message.

Yet... here I was.

I don't know whether it was greed or boredom that brought me here. Maybe it was a little of both... The mere thought of making money was enough to put a guy on edge and I was no different. However as a general rule of thumb, no money was acquired without risk. Not in my line of work anyway. To people like me, everything was a risk assessment. Weighing up the danger and the potential profit to see whether any kind of 'proposition' was actually worth the effort.

I glanced around the bar once again and out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a young man dressed in a course woolen vest. He stood before making his way over to me. He had soft green eyes and a shaggy brown mop upon his head. As he approached me I slipped my phone back into my jacket before resting my hand on the gun I still had hidden away... just a precaution. The man slowly sat down next to me, seemingly oblivious to my existence. He reached over and lifted a couple of plates from the conveyer belt in front of us. He set the plates out before him before reaching over to pull two plastic chopsticks from a nearby dispenser.

I watched him for a little longer, wondering if he was the one who had set up this meeting. My eyes traced up and down his body, searching for any signs of hidden weaponry. As far as I could tell, he wasn't carrying.

"You know, there are places like this all over LA, dozens of 'em. But do you want to know why I come to this place above all others?"

The brown haired man asked with a thin smile.

The question caught me off guard.

I slowly turned to face him, deciding to keep silent.

The man took the hint and quickly grabbed a small white bottle that was sitting on the counter top, before pouring it's contents into a plastic shot glass. He raised it up in a way as if to make a toast before a large stupid grin spread across is face.

"It has the best darn Sake this side of LA!" He exclaimed before downing the liquid in one quick gulp.

The man shivered slightly as he slammed the cup back onto the white counter so hard that I thought it might break. The robust alcoholic beverage seemed to knock the breath right out of him. He panted as a large toothy smile appeared. It was then I noticed that one of the man's upper teeth was absent, replaced by a dark gap, I assumed it had been lost in the midst of a wild drunken misadventure of some sort.

"Name's Zheren" he said, extending a grubby linen wrapped hand out to me, expecting a handshake.

I stared at his hand for a moment, not particularly keen on swapping skin cells with this dirty drunkard. However despite my better judgment- and acute sense of smell- I raised my hand to meet his.

"Lawrence" I replied flatly, embracing his hand with a firm handshake.

"Lawrence huh?" Zheren mused, before tightening his grip on my right hand and yanking my arm towards him, my entire body lurched to the right as he pulled.

Startled by the man's sudden actions, I instinctively went for my gun. But before I could draw the compact pistol, Zheren had pushed up my jacket's sleeve, leaving my skin exposed for all to see. The man's eyes lit up with excitement, as he eyed the black circuit board like markings that ran down my forearm.

He leaned in close to me, too close for my liking, with a thin smile on his lips.

"So you really are him... the infamous Data Miner Kraft Lawrence..." Zheren chuckled softly, the stench of his breath reeking of alcohol.

"To be honest, I wasn't sure whether you would come. You seem to be the cautious type." He mused, glancing at my gun for only the briefest of moments.

I wrenched my arm out of the man's grasp, an angry scowl upon my face.

_'Who the hell is this guy?'_ I thought, beginning to cover the exposed circuit markings by rolling down my jacket's sleeve.

"How do you know me? More importantly, what do want?" I protested, trying to keep my voice as hushed as possible.

Zheren gave a crooked smile, "Right to the point, huh... alright, I'll pitch it to you straight. Basically I'm in need of someone like you. I've heard about what you can do and it'll be useful in a little escapade I've got planned." He said, glancing at my right arm before carefully pouring out two more shots of sake.

"Lemme ask you something Lawrence, how much do you know about Wheaten Laboratories?" He asked, sliding the plastic shot cup filled with the clear liquid over to me.

"Wheaten?" I repeated softly as I took the small shot glass that was being offered.

"That's the research facility located downtown, they're adverse in genetic engineering, right?"

Zheren nodded as he picked up a small rice ball from one of the plates he had gotten earlier and eagerly popped it in his mouth.

"That's right." He said through a mouthful of rice before swallowing.

"Recently, Wheaten's funding has been jacked up tenfold. So now they're making all kinds of upgrades to their facilities, including upping their security network."

He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a small hand-held PC. With a few taps upon the screen, a small document appeared.

"Here, take a look." He said passing the compact tablet over to me.

I glanced over the document that was displayed upon the screen and just from the first scan, I could tell it was an order invoice for Wheaten Laboratories. I began scrolling through the listings of standard equipment, and nothing seemed terribly out of the ordinary. But then around about a quarter of a page down, I saw something that was the exact opposite of ordinary.

_'One hundred, fifty boxes of live ammunition? Thirteen Halifax Sentry Turrets and thirty Anti-Personnel Mech Drones?! What!? This is a research facility in the middle of downtown LA, not a god darn military instillation! Why the hell would they need this level of security?'_ I exclaimed in my head.

My surprise must have shown, as Zheren picked up on it.

"So... you see it?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"I got a hold of that invoice as it was being sent out through the WAN. It took a bit of doing, but I managed to copy it." He said with an essence of pride.

_'He copied and reconstructed the data packets as they were sent through the wide area network, not bad... not bad at all...'_ I remarked in my head before regaining my composure and getting on with the matter at hand.

"Where are you heading with this? What happened to 'giving it to me straight'?" I snarked, in a faux mocking tone.

"Did you look at their serial numbers?" Zheren asked before sticking a piece of seaweed wrapped fish in his mouth.

I had another look at the tablet's display, looking for the MSN of the items on the invoice, primarily that of the Turrets and Mech Drones. The serial number for both read: 'X100-250512354' and 'X100-524521698.' Now, I don't normally keep myself up to date on all the latest software and hardware releases, especially if it was military grade product.

Even though it was a high end commodity and greatly sought after on the black market, it was hardly worth the risk. And I'm talking about the kind of risk with thirty-odd highly trained and heavily armed guards with a shoot-to-kill mentality.

Because of that, I wasn't the type of person to go around trying to 'acquire' military grade software, I didn't have a death wish.

Despite this, I didn't recognize the model number 'X100'.

"X100? I've never heard that one before." I muttered, hoping that Zheren would fill me in.

Zheren smiled again, "Yeah, I'm not surprised. The X100 line is the new brand of defensive innovations from Sycorax Industries. And we're talking new, like not even in mass production yet. Only the best security firms would have access to this stuff and even then it'd be hard to get. The X100 line is supposedly going to be far greater than anything produced before it."

I stared at him incredulously.

"So let me get this straight... you're planning on getting into Wheaten Laboratories to get your hands on this rare, and dare I say cumbersome military tech?" I grumbled flatly.

Forget what I said about this guy being 'not bad', he was a moron if he thought I'd ever get caught up in a dumb-ass scheme like this.

Zheren simply leaned in close to me with a cocky smirk on his face,

"It's not just the hardware that's better..." he said.

I shot him a smile that portrayed both realization and amusement.

"You're after the software." I said, piecing together why he wanted me on board.

Zheren nodded with a grin, "You got it. Sycorax totally revamped their security suite on their hardware, we're talking a full-blown OS overhaul here! Real time tactical analysis, self replicating combat sub routines and a fully integrated self learning system! Imagine if we could get our hands on the software, If we cracked, copied and sold it, we could make a killing!" Despite Zheren muttering softly, trying to play it low key as possible, I could hear the pure excitement and anticipation in his voice.

I brought my hand up to my chin, feeling my unshaven stubble as I pondered Zheren's proposition, my brow furrowing. The potential profit that could be made would be staggering. We could be talking millions if we found a good buyer for it, which wouldn't be too hard considering the complexity of this new software suite.

Zheren seemed to know quite a bit about it, and If we took into account that this software wasn't even available to the best security firms, that would make the price soar even higher. Also Sycorax and Wheaten were privately owned, meaning that we wouldn't be crossing with any of the corporate overlords of Pegasus Horizons. We might even be able to cut a deal with some of the smaller company rivals of Sycorax and avoid the Black Market entirely.

However, despite the speculation of money that _could_ be made, there was still the matter of risk in acquiring it.

"So... whataya say? Do you want in on this?" Zheren asked with his chipped smile, extending his hand forward as if he were making a business deal.

I rose my hands up to my head in protest. "Hang on a second, how are you even planning on getting this software anyway?"

Zheren's face and hand fell, "I... well... I've got a plan, but I'm not at liberty to discuss it with you. Y-you understand right? I can fill you in if you join up with us, but I can't risk jeopardizing ourselves."

I rose my hand up to my chin in thought, hardly convinced by the solidity of Zheren's little scheme. There was so much I didn't know and walking into a situation without knowing all the details, is the kind of thing that gets you killed. Still if Zheren was right about this new software suite, it could turn out very profitable. And I hated to admit it, but I hadn't made any decent money in a while. It could be a turn around for me, maybe it'd be enough for me to retire...

"So do we have an agreement?" Zheren asked nervously, stirring me from my thoughts.

"Just tell me this Zheren... this plan of yours. How solid is it?" I asked, my gaze hardening.

"I can tell you that it's a good plan. But... there's no such thing as a foolproof plan, right?" Zheren chuckled uneasily.

I kept silent as I stroked my chin in thought for a moment longer.

"Alright..." I said lowering my hand and extending it towards him, smiling.

"You can count me in."

Zheren beamed as he quickly met his hands with mine, entangling it in a wild hand shake.

"Really?! Oh God, you had me holding my breath there for a moment." he exclaimed in relief.

"So what happens now?" I asked and Zheren broke his firm handshake and hastily reached into his pocket once more and removed a small black circular object.

He placed it on the counter and slid it across towards me.

"What's this?" I asked picking up the flat object and examining it.

Zheren grinned again, "Consider it as something to wet your appetite, as well erase anymore doubts you might have..." He said with a wink.

I stared at the object for a moment longer and realized it was a compact credit disc, valued at around seven thousand credits. All of said credits were digitaly stored upon the small black disc and could be accessed at any time.

_'Where the hell did he get this money from? He didn't appear to be particularly wealthy...'_ I thought.

I slipped the small disc into the palm of my hand and wrapped my fingers around it.

"Seven thousand credits is one hell of a preliminary investment," I stated.

Zheren shrugged, "Just a way to show you that we're playing to win, it'll be one hell of a catch if we pull it off!" He chuckled as he picked up his lonely shot glass. The clear liquid swirled around it as he rose it up towards me.

"I'm looking forward to working with you... Kraft Lawrence." He grinned, delight ringing in his tone.

I gave a small reserved smile myself, as I picked up my own shot glass Zheren had poured me earlier. I rose the glass up to collide with Zheren's. The two glasses made a satisfying clacking noise as the plastic collided.

And in almost perfect synchronization, we both drank from the cheap shot glasses.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A Gathering of Lowlife

I stood alone on the edge of the Skyway. The rain had cleared since my little meeting with Zheren yesterday, but the permanent dark gray skyline of the city endured. I sighed, staring blankly out at what was known as 'Lower Los Angeles'. It's grid like layout of buildings and roads stretched up to where I stood, almost reaching the Skyway that hovered fifty stories above the polluted concrete roadways below. The Skyway itself wasn't much better, as traffic constantly poured out onto it and stained it with filth.

It was an extensive network that spanned the entire city, a fast track for where you needed to go... so long as you can withstand heights, that is.

I watched the headlights of the cars and trucks flash by me upon the Skyway, while I stood still. Waiting.

Wherever my eyes moved, I saw nothing but cold steel and glass. Occasionally the ever present steel was splashed with colour from the huge LCD screens that beamed with promises. So long as you bought this product or believed in this policy, you would have a better life. I put my hands in my pockets and sighed.

'They're late...' I thought as I turned towards the metal railing of the Skyway, leaning against it.

Looking over the edge, I peered down into the streets of Lower LA. I saw bright lights and bustling ant like people that crawled amongst the confined streets. It always managed to amaze me how insignificant I was in the grand scheme of things... I was only one man out of the twelve million that resided in LA, not to mention the billions upon billions of people that were placed upon this Earth.

My eyes roamed upwards, spying one of the colossal concrete and metal pillars, supporting huge mighty platforms. Platforms that housed 'Upper Los Angeles'.

These massive platforms were almost cities in themselves, where the wealthy and powerful would live and forget about the problems of the world. If you didn't feel insignificant by being one in twelve million people, Upper LA would surely correct that. It was always a reminder that you were below others, that you were nothing compared to them... it was degrading.

Despite the sound of the flowing traffic that rushed through my ears, I managed to pick up the sound of a car coming to a stop by the side of the Skyway. I turned to see a glossy black van stop at least a meter from me, It's side door opening. Just beyond the weighty black door was the wide chipped smile of Zheren, the wind whistling though the gap in his teeth.

Despite the sound of the flowing traffic that rushed through my ears, I managed to pick up the sound of a car coming to a stop by the side of the Skyway. I turned to see a glossy black van park at least a meter from me, It's side door opening. Just beyond the weighty black door was the wide chipped smile of Zheren, the wind whistling through the gap in his teeth.

"Hey Lawrence, sorry to make you wait. We ran into a slight complication and had to make a detour." He said, still smiling that care free smile of his.

He was wearing darker clothing from the time I met with him at Yamoto's. However, he still wore that same dirty course linen vest. I suspected that it had stuck to his unwashed body after years of usage.

I didn't return his warm greeting, instead I quickly closed the distance between myself and Zheren, not particularly bothered by his late arrival. What was bugging me however, was that Zheren still hadn't filled me in on how he was going to obtain the software we were planning to steal. He had told me to bring a few necessities for the little escapade, which I had brought in a black messenger bag that I had strapped securely across my shoulder.

"Got everything you need?" Zheren asked offering me a hand inside.

"Yeah, I'm all set. Are you finally going to tell me this plan of yours?" I griped, before taking Zheren's hand and climbing into the van.

"Yep, I'll fill you in as we head off." Zheren explained as he shut the door of the black van with a loud clunk.

My eyes took in the spacious interior of the van. To the left of where I stood was a small work station, a couple of bright glowing monitors had been set up, with an assortment of other equipment all resting upon a fold down table top. The monitors themselves were hooked up to a couple of large PC towers, located further down the van. And in the furthest corner, was a couple of heavy metal boxes that were securely fastened to the floor. Aside from myself and Zheren, there were two other men within the van.

One was fair haired, relaxing upon a soft bench that ran along the interior. He was wearing a pair of sturdy combat pants and a dark vest. Despite his laid back appearance, his vibrant green eyes belonged to a killer... he was not someone to be taken lightly. The other was a chubby dark haired man, sitting anxiously behind the wheel of the van. He was dressed in a pair of old jeans and a heather gray sweatshirt, which he'd used to wipe his thick rimmed glasses from time to time. He smelled of BO, corn chips and self pity.

'Quite the gathering of lowlife.' I thought bitterly as Zheren turned to face me.

"Ok so, introductions. Lawrence this is Bailey, he's our mussel. He'll be helping us out should things get heated up." Zheren said smiling, gesturing to the fair haired man. Who gave a small nod of acknowledgment in response.

"And this is Trevino, our tech support. He'll be feeding us intel and generally making our life easier." He continued, pride ringing in his voice. Trevino timidly raised a hand as if to wave, but only managed to shake it slightly before dropping it altogether.

"Bailey, Trevino. This is Kraft Lawrence, our Data Miner." Zheren grinned, placing a dirty hand firmly on my shoulder.

Trevino's eyes widened behind his glasses. "A Data Miner? Aren't they illegal?" The chubby man quivered.

Zheren Chuckled, "Well we ain't exactly clean ourselves. Speaking of which, get us on the road, we've got a job to do." He instructed, while Trevino hastily nodded, before starting the engine and gripping the wheel tightly.

I cautiously took a seat beside Bailey, while Zheren sat down by the monitor. I felt the van lurch forward as we entered the high speed traffic of the Skyway. Zheren, brought up a couple of documents and visual aids upon the monitors in front of him.

"Alright, so it's about time I told you how this will be going down. It'll depend on all of us if we're going to be successful in our little operation..." Zheren explained. I kept quiet as Zheren pointed to a set of schematics on the monitors.

I leaned in to get a closer look at the images up on the monitor, observing the many corridors and entrances as Zheren started talking.

"Our objective is here, the main data processing room." He stated, pointing to a large circular room that was located in the center of the facility.

"The facility runs on a giant client/server network. All data that runs through it originates from that room. The servers are a massive stockpile of software and sensitive information. And amongst all that, is the software suite we're looking for."

"So if the software is stored on a server, why bother getting into the data processing room? We could probably access their network remotely and crack their encryption in a couple of days." I stated, waiting for Zheren's rebuttal.

"Remote access is impossible I'm afraid, Wheaten's server runs on an isolated network. Even if we decided to gain access from inside the facility, we'd run a huge risk being detected before we began to look for the main server files. Also the data room has been shielded somehow, no signals can get in or out of that room, so wireless access is a no-go. We're going to have to be within spitting distance from the main server in order to pull anything out of it."

My brow furrowed, "So in other words, we have to gain access to the facility, bypass their security systems and crack their server encryption?" I asked, skepticism ringing in my tone.

"I'm not gonna lie, Wheaten has got some pretty heavy security behind it. And the security upgrades they're got planned are gonna make getting in and out of Wheaten just that little bit more impossible. It's now or never..." Zheren paused, allowing his words to settle in.

'Yeah, I get it. It's not going to be a cake walk.' I sneered in my head.

"However, this new system Wheaten is installing is going to be our way of getting in and out. Wheaten is making massive renovations to their facility so they can incorporate the new security system, meaning they've had to compromise quite a bit, while the installation takes place..."

Zheren paused again and chuckled, "They didn't even bother with a parallel or phased implementation, they went for a direct changeover. My guess is they wanted the new system to be put in as fast as possible." He scoffed.

I raised my brow in surprise. A direct changeover to a new system was surprising. It was hardly ever done, due to the amount of things that could go wrong. Without proper testing, a newly implemented system may fail horrendously... they must be pretty desperate for the new security.

"So how does this implementation help us?" I asked.

Zheren smiled. "Well you see, Wheaten has a biometric scan network installed into their security. Meaning any personnel who weren't verified within the network could be tracked throughout the facility. We'd have no chance in hell getting anywhere near the data processing room. However, as they're installing the new security units and incorporating them into the network, they've deactivated their scanning devices. Otherwise their new toys could start shooting up the place! And the folks at Wheaten wouldn't want that..." Zheren exclaimed.

"I doubt that's the only security system Wheaten has..." I moaned incredulously.

Zheren nodded, "They've got guards, CCTV and a direct line to the nearest fed station. But that's why we've got Bailey and Trevino to keep things under control. So you can get to the server and extract the software for us." Zheren explained as he pointed a grubby index finger towards me.

I sighed, "Well how exactly are you planning on getting us in there?"

The corner of Zheren's lips creased up in a smile, "We'll be going in on foot, Trevino will hang back with the van. But you, Bailey and myself will be entering the facility via a contact I have on the inside. Once we're in, Trevino will be blocking Wheaten's calls to the feds, while we move through the facility."

"And the guards?" I asked again.

"You leave them to us..." Zheren said somewhat ominously.

I was about to press the matter, however Trevino spoke, disrupting my train of thought.

"S-sorry to interrupt, but our exit is coming up," He stammered.

Bailey stirred from his laid back posture, speaking up for the first time. His voice was low and harsh as his eyes narrowed at Trevino.

"You're not taking the eighty second are you?" He said a hint of spite in his tone.

Trevino, looked back over his shoulder for the briefest of moments before refocusing on the road.  
"Yeah... why?" He asked sheepishly.

Bailey resumed his laid back posture, an unamused frown on his face.

"That exit goes right past Sector Ten. I don't know about you, but I want to avoid running into any pre-drama and risk jeopardizing this little scheme of ours, before it even starts..."

I caught sight of the sweat beads forming on the back of Trevino's neck, as he pulled out of the lane that led to the Eighty Second exit of the Skyway.

"Sector Ten is still locked down?" I asked, getting to my feet and looking out of a nearby window.

I saw the high cold metal walls that had been erected around the old residential district, the symbol of a blue winged horse embedded into the metalwork. Blinding searchlights flittered across the perimeter of the walls, scouring the darkness for any who may venture too close.

Zheren also peered out the window to get a better look at the metal containment walls.

"Yeah, it's been on lockdown for a while now. Something about a chemical leak... I heard that all the civilians were evacuated. Mind you... that's the official story." Zheren stated ominously.

I turned to face him, "You think they're hiding something in there?"

Zheren shrugged, "Everybody is hiding something and Pegasus Horizons is no different."

The van fell silent, the quiet hum of the engine droning in my ears. Eventually Zheren stood upright and sighed.

"Anyway, No sense on dwelling on it. Trevino, we can take the one hundred and first and loop back around. It's only a small detour, so it shouldn't be a problem." He stated before returning to his seat.

The remainder of the drive was relatively quiet, I didn't really want to strike a conversation with anyone around me. However, Zheren would ask me a couple of questions every now and again, forcing me to answer, before going back to typing away on the van's computer. We took the exit as Zheren instructed, leaving the rapid flow of the Skyway and descending into the filthy streets of Lower LA. I stared numbly out of the windshield, street lights and neon signs rushed past us, as we drove upon the dark road.

I was completely wrapped up in my own thoughts, so-much-so that I didn't notice when the van stopped. We had parked ourselves down a tight brick alleyway, that was just off to the side of the road. Zheren stood from his chair, his face becoming darker. I assumed it was just nerves, even I felt a on edge, nothing could ever truly prepare you for a heist.

Trevino cut the engine before waddling into the back of the van with the rest of us. He plopped down where Zheren had sat, before bringing up a couple of command terminals and a few of documents with various notes. He hammered furiously on the keyboard laid out in front of him, the light of the monitors reflecting off the surface of his glasses.

"Alright, Bailey, Think you can set the bug?" Zheren asked, handing the fair haired thug an earpiece and a small palm top computer.

"The coms node shouldn't be too far from here... Just hook it up and run Com forty two exe. You got that? Com forty two exe." Zheren ordered, his voice becoming harsher, trying to stress his point.

Bailey nodded in acknowledgment, before opening up the van's back doors and setting off onto the streets. He disappeared from sight, as the black doors slammed shut behind him. Zheren fitted his own earpiece before heading over to the metal black boxes in the corner of the van.

I watched with mild curiosity and then alarm, as Zheren undid the clasp, revealing a sleek metallic sub-machine gun with five loaded clips of live ammunition.

My eyes widened as Zheren picked up the light weight weapon in his hands, checking it over and fiddling with the LED displays on the sides.

"Ever use one of these before?" He asked flatly, not taking his eyes of the gun.

I coughed, "Well... I'm accustomed with them, never fired one though. It's Military Grade isn't it? must've cost you quite a bit..." I mused, wrapped up in speculation.

Zheren grinned that casual 'no worries' smile of his, "I pulled a couple of strings... called upon a few favors. It's how I managed to get all this sweet gear for us." he said, gesturing to the tech around him.

I raised an eyebrow, "All off the black market?"

"Yeah, you could say that..." Zheren mused, reaching into the box once again and removing a thin black silencer.

"Right..." I replied, watching him screw the silencer firmly onto the barrel.

'So we're resorting to violence, huh? Whatever, as long as we get the software, that's all that matters... eyes on the prize Lawrence. Eyes on the prize...' I thought, mentally preparing myself for what was coming.

Suddenly Zheren raised his hand up to his ear piece.

"Bailey? Did you hook us up?"

There was a moment of silence.

"What do you mean a problem?" Zheren asked, a scowl forming.

Another moment of silence.

"Have you tried turning it off and on again?" Zheren asked with a look of sheer disdain.

And after another short moment of silence Trevino perked up.

"I've got it!" he chirped.

"Great, you good to go Trevino?" Zheren asked, a fierce excitement beginning to flair in his eyes.

The blubbery man adjusted his glasses and nodded, still staring at the screen.

"Yeah, I should be able to patch myself in."

He ran his sausage like fingers up and down the keyboard, firing off lines of code like a machine gun. However, after a brief moment, a look of sheer bewilderment appeared on his face.

"I-It's not accepting any of my commands." Trevino stated, his mouth dropping open.

"I can't do anything?!"

"What?! How? That bug should've given us a backdoor into the area's coms network!" Zheren babbled, putting the machine gun down and stared at the LCD monitors with an expression that mirrored Trevino's.

"I-I don't k-know, I patched us through, b-but I can't direct or f-filter any traffic." Trevino stammered, shrugging at the lines of code on the monitor.

My eyes narrowed as I stared at the screen, before going over to stand by Trevino.

"Mind if I...?" gesturing towards the computer.

Trevino hesitated, before slowly shuffling back with the chair. A look of curiosity upon his face, leaving me standing by the keyboard and monitors. I glanced between the command windows and monitoring aplication for the bug. I leaned over and rested my fingertips on the keyboard, trying a couple of basic operating commands to test the waters. Trying bringing up the status of current traffic flow that was routing through the node. After a couple of key strokes and the hit of a button, I sent the command.

After a few short seconds, I received a message that verified the command. But, I didn't receive any status of communication flow. The input and connection was fine, we could send commands. It's our output that was lacking, we were getting no data.

My eyes narrowed in thought as I stroked my chin.

"Alright, let me see if I can just..." I thought aloud, before reaching into my bag. Shimming past the handheld computer and electronics, I searched for a particular cable that I had stuffed at the bottom. Both Zheren and Trevino watched with great interest as I pulled out something that looked like an Electrode from a Holter Monitor.

Rolling up my right sleeve, I revealed the intricate black markings that ran down the length of my right arm.

I heard a small gasp from Trevino, as he gawked at my markings. I began to feel a little uncomfortable with all the attention I was getting.

"Is that an Ink Circuit?!" Trevino asked in astonishment. "I've never seen one before."

"Of course it's an Ink Circuit, that's why he's a Data Miner." Zheren chuckled, before grinning proudly. Obviously pleased to have me on board with his little scheme.

"Pegasus Horizons would have your right arm for having that... literately." Trevino muttered in both fear and fascination.

"I don't make a habit of using it." I grumbled softly, silencing both Zheren and Trevino.

I fastened the electrode to a round black marking on the underside of my wrist, before connecting the opposite end of the cord with a nearby port. I felt a jolt of electricity run up my arm. And I balled my hand into a fist before releasing it again, checking to see if my nerve endings were unaffected by the current that ran through the markings on my arm.

Soon a new window appeared on the monitor with a title that read 'Ink-C'. The window displayed a long list of folders and files, containing an array of documents and executable files, all of which were stored within the ink's marks. I quickly browsed through the various files until I found the programs I was looking for. With a quick file transfer and running a few exe files, I brought up a status of the traffic flow in the form of a visual graph. The Graph displayed who was using the node to communicate, visualizing the data with a steadily rising and falling green line.

With a small content smile, I disconnected myself from the access port and rolled my sleeve down.

"Right, that should do it." I stated, somewhat proud in my abilities.

Trevino scrambled forward, "What was the problem?" he asked in amazement.

"Just a small issue with your output, I opened up a free port and rerouted the data to it. Easy fix." I explained, coiling up the electrode and slipping it into my pocket.

Trevino quickly shoved me out of the way, before hammering on the keyboard once again. A large goofy grin appeared on his face.

"We're in..."

And with that, Zheren rose his hand to the ear piece and called Bailey back to the van. Once the man in question returned, Zheren and Bailey began a rundown of the equipment. They had packed quite a bit of firepower, including two compact silenced sub-machine guns, three pistols, and enough ammunition to fully supply a six man squad.

I had brought my own firearm, concealed within my jacket for cautionary measures. But Zheren and Bailey were certainly going all out with their weaponry. To be fair, we were assailing a facility that would contain armed guards... And we were probably going to be fighting said armed guards. Over the next couple of hours, lives were going to be lost. That much I was sure... it was something I was more than accustomed to.

'Eyes on the prize...' I thought through gritted teeth.

"Here, you might want to put this on." Zheren said, handing me a black cloth. Both Zheren and Bailey had cloths of their own, which they wore in various styles. I guess they would be using them for protecting their identity during the raid, may as well. I took the cloth from his hands and tied it around my neck, forming a neckerchief.

The two men slid their weaponry and gear into two black sling packs, before fastening them onto their backs.

"Ok, Wheaten Laboratories is just a couple of blocks down from us, just keep moving and stay alert. I don't want to run into any trouble before we start." Zheren ordered, making sure we understood his point. Bailey nodded in acknowledgment and I added a nod of my own.

"Right, keep me updated on any coms traffic and stay on those calls to the feds, don't let any of 'em through." He enjoined, pointing a finger at Trevino.

The blubbery man in question nodded. "Right" he said, determination and nervousness warring in his voice. "I won't let you down."

Zheren grinned as he addressed us all, "Alright, let's get it done and go with the flow. When we pull this off, we'll all be rich men!" He exclaimed with zeal before wrenching the back doors open and jumping out. Bailey was next and I followed in suit.

Zheren slammed the Van door shut behind us with a "Good luck to as all!" before running ahead to take point.

I rolled my eyes, "we sure as hell need it..." I muttered under my breath. I watched Bailey and Zheren walk ahead of me and out onto the dark streets of Lower LA. I quickly checked my phone and watched the solid green line rise and fall. With a small smile of grim satisfaction I pulled my cloth closer to my face, before I quickened my steps...

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_

_Hey there, hope you're liking the story so far._

_I'll be trying to get new chapters out on a Bi-weekly/monthly basis, but due to various commitments I have, that might change._  
_I'll try not to post these Author Notes too much, as I feel they break the flow of the story._

_If you go to my profile page, you can find links to my DA and Tumblr._  
_Feel free to ask me stuff and keep up to date with the latest developments._

_Hope you have a good one._  
_-RRR_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Wheaten

The crowd of blurry faces shuffled past as I moved against the droves of people. Zheren and Bailey were still ahead, slowly widening the distance from me.

I couldn't loose sight of them.

With a few short bounds, I managed to catch up. People muttered and cursed under their breath as I pushed past them, while Zheren looked over his shoulder to see what was keeping me.

"Lawrence, you right back there?" He asked.

I nodded, "Yeah, fine. How much further till Wheaten?"

Zheren made a gesture with his head, nodding in a particular direction. My eyes followed his movements, until I saw what was up ahead. The Street before us ended in a wide T-junction, and on the southern face lay a large concrete building. It was no architectural marvel, just a gray concrete cube with opaque glass filling it's gaps. Light poured onto the building from various angles and sources, illuminating the structure. Despite the lack of imagination in it's design, the building looked quite impressive compared to the rest of it's squalid industrial surroundings.

Beside the main entrance to the complex was a large back lit sign that read 'Wheaten Laboratories', accompanied with what I assumed was the organization's logo.

Zheren and Bailey picked up the pace once again, knowing our prize was somewhere within that building... Looking at the fenced off perimeter, I felt a small flicker of nervousness as I spotted the guards dressed in immaculate blue uniforms.

The blue baseball caps and black boots grabbed my attention. Stern faces warranting their authority and callous nature.

However, when I spied the winged horse insignia embroidered upon their uniforms, my stomach dropped. In two lunging steps I caught up to Zheren, before violently slamming him against the nearest wall. People gasped and quickly moved on, not wanting to get caught up in the scuffle to come. I held him up against the wall by his vest, feeling the grit and grease that clung to it.

Zheren's eyes went wide with surprise, "L-Lawrence?! What the hell are you doing?" he griped, confusion and anger ringing in his voice.

I was fuming, I had to restrain myself from putting him on the ground with a split lip.

"Pegasus Horizons!" I seethed, through clenched teeth.

Zheren blinked, "huh?"

I pushed his face to look at the guards standing by the entrance.

"W-what about them?" Zheren asked, still confused.

"Why the hell is the PH corporation playing watch dog for Wheaten?" I elaborated, still angry.

A scowl formed across Zheren's face, "Pegasus Horizons bought out Wheaten a while ago..."

My face fell, "What?" I mumbled, loosening my grip on Zheren.

Zheren backed away from me, gaining as much distance as he could, while brushing himself off.

"Yeah, they kept it pretty low key... Not many people know about it yet. I... I thought you knew..." Zheren explained nervously.

I clenched my fist into a ball, "So, you're saying we're... going up against Pegasus Horizons."

Zheren glanced to the ground and back up to me, "Yeah... in a sense..."

I glared at him darkly, "I'm done." I said simply before turning to leave.

Zheren's eyes boggled, "What?! You can't leave, Wheaten is right there! We're a stone throws away!" he exclaimed.

"Don't care." I grumbled flatly, moving ahead.

Suddenly my path was obstructed by the fair haired thug, Bailey. He gripped my shoulder tightly and shoved a gun barrel right into my gut.

I froze, looking down at the small pistol he had in his hand, my eyes widening. He had positioned the gun in such a manner to keep it obscured from the passing crowds of people. No one was going to help me.

"Lawrence please... we could make a killing here, maybe enough to set us all up for life. Don't throw this chance away!" Zheren pleaded, trying to persuade me.

Although... the gun in my gut was doing a pretty good job already.

"It wouldn't matter, no one crosses Pegasus Horizons and comes out on top Zheren. Once you've made their shit list, you can consider yourself a dead man." I replied, as calmly as I could.

Zheren walked over to me and put a greasy hand on my free shoulder.

"Wheaten is merely a sub branch of the PH corporation, a sub branch that they haven't gone public with.. Pegasus Horizons wouldn't make a big song and dance about it, they'd just count it as a minor loss and move on. It's nothing to worry about." He soothed.

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into." I muttered.

Zheren fixed me with a cold stare, "I don't think you do either..." He said nodding to the gun pressed against my gut.

"I can't let you jeopardize the operation Lawrence... you're either with us, or against us... what's it gonna be?" Zheren asked uncertainly.

I could tell he didn't want to kill me and I certainly didn't want to die. I felt the sweat dripping down the back of my neck, between a rock and a hard place.

I sighed, '_eyes on the prize.'_

"Fine, let's just get this over with." I grumbled as Bailey slowly moved the gun away from my gut, before stuffing it back into his vest.

Zheren nodded, "Alright, let's go." He replied in relief.

We pressed on, I followed both Zheren and Bailey as they crossed the intersection and ducked down a side passage that ran past the fenced perimeter of Wheaten. The fence only ran for a few feet more, before it was replaced by concrete wall, squishing us between the concrete and the scummy brick wall of the neighboring building. After a few more feet we reached what looked like some kind of metallic panel. It was completely sealed, there were no locks or opening mechanisms, just a flat metal surface.

"Get those masks on..." Zheren ordered, removing the cloth he tied around his arm, before retying it around his face to cover his mouth and nose.

Bailey and I did the same. I pulled my neckerchief up to my nose and tightened it, the sent of engine oil coming from the cloth nearly overwhelmed me. I began to wonder how sanitary it was wearing it. Zheren approached the door and gave it three sharp knocks, waited for a moment, before knocking on it twice again.

There was a moment of silence before a small hissing noise emanated from the panel. Then without warning, it opened. Large heavy steel plates slid past one another, until the interior of Wheaten was exposed. The whitewashed walls and tiled floors all blurred together under the radiance of the bright indoor lighting. Within the room was a dark haired man, dressed in a lab coat and tie, standing behind a rectangular control panel. He looked up, seeing the three of us dressed in black and remained fairly calm, surprised, but calm.

"Rahhe" Zheren whispered.

The man sighed in relief, "Perouso" he replied.

"We all good to go?" Zheren asked, stepping into the white room, followed by myself and Bailey.

The man nodded hastily, "Yeah, it's fine. But where's my pay? You said you'd pay upfront. Where is it? I wasn't risking my ass for-"

He was cut off by Zheren, "Don't worry, my friend will take care of that." He said, gesturing to Bailey.

Bailey casually walked up to the dark haired man and as quick as a viper, drew a silenced pistol, leveling it with the man's head. The man's eyes boggled as Bailey squeezed the trigger with cold indifference.

'Thwack!'

The man's head exploded backwards, blood showering the equipment behind him. He slumped to the ground like a rag doll. Dead.

Zheren, moved ahead to the console, stepping over the dead man before he hit a button. The door slid shut behind us, cutting us off from the outside world.

"Alright, let's go find that software" Zheren ordered, unzipping his pack and loaded the silenced sub machine gun with one of his sleek black clips.

I stepped around the dead body, avoiding the thick pooling liquid that oozed from the hole in the man's forehead. I was no stranger to death... you become accustomed to it in my line of work. Whether the guy deserved this fate, I couldn't say. He had made his choices and it had cost him. There was not much else I could say on the matter.

Zheren caught me staring at the body.

"That's the thing about treachery... it works both ways." He said flatly.

"He could have ruined our operation in a whole number of ways, It's better like this..." Zheren reassured, glancing at the body for the briefest moment.

I reached into my jacket pocket and removed my pistol, giving it a once over.

"Who's taking point?" I asked nonchalantly, trying to take my mind off the upcoming violence.

"I'll be up front, while Bailey covers the rear. All you need to do is stay out of fire, let us handle it." Zheren instructed.

I arched my brow, "You sure you want to play it that way?"

"Just do your job, and I'll do mine." Bailey sneered as he shoved past me.

My eyes glazed over, Bailey wasn't exactly the most socially adept guy, to say the least. But I had to put my faith in him despite his hostile nature. I watched as the thug crept towards the automated door that lead further into the facility. He hugged the wall next to the door and waited for Zheren's orders. Zheren joined him on the other side, his gun at the ready, gesturing for me to get back. He reached into his pocket, removing a white and orange access card with Wheaten's logo embedded into the top right hand corner.

I backed up to the wall, gripping my pistol tightly as Zheren gave the order to clear the next room. He swiped the card and a green light flashed, before the door shot open with a hiss.

The next couple of moments blurred into one.

As soon as the door opened wide, it revealed a well lit, whitewashed corridor with doors that ran down either side. Approximately five feet down the corridor were two surprised looking guardsmen, clearly shocked to see the three of us. One may have managed to curse, before bailey brought up his gun.

With a short burst of 'thwacks', dark red splotches skittered across their clean blue uniforms. Zheren stepped into the corridor, his gun raised and sweeping for any potential threats. I followed after him, my pistol raised and at the ready. I saw the two, now dead guards crumpled upon the floor, their guns not even drawn from their holsters. Zheren took the rear, unloading a few rounds into a nearby security camera, before covering our flanks.

I eyed the many metal doors that ran down the corridor, any one could've had an armed guard or two behind it.

"Zheren, there are far to many spots to cover, how are we suppose-" I cut myself off as the man in question made his way to a nearby door panel, before punching in a couple of numbers and swiping the strange card.

Suddenly all the door panels down the corridor, flashed with a solid red light, before I heard a loud uniform 'clunk' emanate from the doors.

There was a moment of silence before someone started banging against the metal door with their fist.

"Hey, is everything alright out there? I heard a noise... Trevor? Greg?" A muffled voice called from behind the door. There was another moment of silence before the door panel made a horrid ear splitting buzz.

"Dammit, the Door's deadlocked! We... we can't get out... HEY! HEY, SOMEONE HELP US!" The voice called.

A small satisfied smile crawled across Zheren's face. "That won't be a problem." He grinned, before taking the front of our formation once more.

I frowned under the black face cloth, "That key card, where did you even get something like that?" I asked, bewildered by the strenuous amount of tech and data Zheren had access too.

"Eh details, it's not important right now. We need to stay sharp though, the building might be deadlocked but their communications are still working fine..." he said raising his gun again.

I blinked, "You deadlocked the building?! How are we supposed to get out after we get the software?"

"Lawrence, we don't have a huge time window in order to wrap this up, let's get a move on." Zheren grimaced, a harsh tone present in his voice.

I sighed, he was going to keep me in the dark... for now at least.

"Fine, lead the way" I grumbled, bringing my pistol up again.

We progressed down the hall, Zheren leading the way. A bend appeared along the sterilized hall, Zheren ordered us to hang back with a hand gesture. He made a quick glance around the corner, before standing ram rod straight, his eyes wider than dinner plates.

"What's wrong?" I whispered.

Zheren peeked around the corner once again and sighed.

"Nothing, just got startled is all... the way's clear, let's move." He said, before moving around the corner.

I followed, and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw the dual rotary cannons of a Halifax turret.

The gun was planted upside down on the ceiling, the Sycorax Industries logo stamped betwixt the two long black cannons. It was plugged into a mess of wiring and was still undergoing installation, but the mere sight of it was enough to shit yourself.

"So this is a Halifax gun? Thought they'd be bigger..." Bailey grumbled, clearly not impressed.

'_Speak for yourself._' I thought, staring at the turret.

Zheren pressed ahead, gesturing for us to follow.

I hugged the wall as I passed the turret, keeping a watchful eye on it as I shimmied past.

The three of us entered another hallway, before an authoritative male voice resonated over the facilities PA system.

"Attention all non-essential personnel, the facility is currently under lockdown. Remain within your designated sectors and report to your superiors for further instruction. Any personnel found outside their sectors will be dealt with... severely."

The voice vanished as quickly as it appeared, leaving an eerie silence hanging in the corridor.

"Hear that?" Zheren mused quietly.

"Trying to hide the fact, we triggered the deadlock."He scoffed while shaking his head.

"They got no idea..." he muttered, almost to himself.

As we pressed on through the facility, Zheren would continually check his palmtop computer, making sure we were heading in the right direction. At one point Zheren paused at a thick metal door, glancing back and forth between his computer, and the door.

"We can cut through here, gimme a sec and I'll open it." He said, before the sound of voices echoed down the corridor.

"Alright guys look lively! We've got three bodies over in A-wing, all taken out by small arm rounds. We're dealing with a bunch of highly dangerous creeps here and we're not going to be tolerating it!" An authoritative voice barked, evidently the leader.

Zheren's eyes widened and his head snapped around to look down the hallway, looking for the encroaching guards.

"Crap..." He hissed before fumbling with the nearby door panel, trying to tripout the deadlock. Bailey took up a defensive position by the door frame, raising his gun and readying himself.

"You three, take the south corridor and sweep to the east. The rest of you are with me, maintain radio contact at all times." The guard ordered.

I heard the sound of boots echoing down the empty corridor. My gaze shifting between Zheren and the source of the sound. Out of the corner of my eye I caught Bailey slipping his index finger into the guard of his sub machine gun, resting his finger on the sleek black trigger, preparing for what was coming.

Suddenly there was a sharp hiss as Zheren swiped his card, and the door slid open.

Zheren was first in, scanning the room with his gun before gesturing for us to follow inside. We wasted no time. We slipped in behind Zheren as he fiddled with the door panel, closing and deadlocking the door once again.

We stood in a rather spacious laboratory, the walls here were steel, rather than the whitewashed concrete we saw out in the corridor. The place was empty save from an array of desks and monitors that displayed an assortment of readouts and data, much of which was beyond me.

However, the most intriguing thing about the laboratory was the luminescent yellow liquid, contained within seven large cylindrical tanks that were lined against the lab's walls. I squinted at the tanks and spotted a large dark shape floating in the yellow solution. I had to get a closer look...

Zheren's head perked up, as if someone had called his name.

He placed his free hand on the earpiece, sitting snugly on the side of his head.

"Yeah, I'm here... What about the coms traffic? They didn't get a line through did they?!... What? Other chatter? Who?... Fine, just keep an eye on them. Stay on those coms and let me know if something comes up."

Bailey and myself only heard one side of the conversation, but we were getting the gist of it.

"Problem?" Bailey asked in a monotone voice.

Zheren shook his head, "Nah, Trevino just found some unidentified group accessing the coms node. Nothing to worry about..." He said nonchalantly.

I approached one of the nearby tanks, forgetting about my two partners in crime, focused solely on the encased yellow liquid. I could clearly see the dark shape now, what it was I couldn't say. Placing a hand on the cool surface of the glass, I leaned towards the tank, trying to peer through the opaque liquid.

Probably not the best idea that went through my head, but on the plus side, I figured out what was suspended in the strange liquid.

What I saw... I could only describe as monstrous.

It's skin was wrinkled and leathery, with patches of manky dark fur strewn across it's body.

It had an elongated gory maw for a mouth, lined with rows of crooked fangs.

I gasped and stumbled back a few steps.

I rose my arm defensively, thinking the creature would break it's glass confinement and lunge at me. But after making an ass of myself in front of Zheren and Bailey, I realized the creature was dead. Maybe it had never been alive.

After recovering from the initial shock, I stomached a closer look at the creature. It was curled up in a twisted fetal position and it's form had some human resemblance, although it's features bared no resemblance to that of a human.

Upon it's leathery shoulder was a black, blocky serial number that read: 'C-0LO'. Looking down, the same imprinted serial number was imprinted at the base of the tank.

'_C-0LO... is that some kind of ID tag?_' I pondered, as Zheren and Bailey came to stand beside me, while observing the tank.

I looked around at the other tanks along the walls and they had similar serial numbers.

'_B-0LO, D-0LO, what the hell is all this?_' I thought again.

"What the fuck is this thing?" Bailey scorned, staring at the creature with disgust.

Zheren was quiet for a moment before speaking.

"I knew Wheaten dealt in Genetic modification, but... nothing like this..." he whispered, his eyes wide.

I whipped around to face him, "Y-you don't mean?!" Horrified that he would even suggest that.

Zheren fixed me with a grave expression, "What else could it be?" He asked solemnly.

I was at a loss for words, I didn't think this kind of thing happened. Last time I checked, human experimentation was strictly illegal and frowned upon... I guess that didn't apply to Pegasus Horizons...

The sound of muffled voices outside the lab door, drew our attention away from the genetic monstrosity.

"They're in lab five o' three, hurry up and get this door open!" A guard shouted.

The Blood drained from my face.

'_how?_' I thought, '_how did they find us?_'

That was when I spotted the small security camera up in the corner of the steel lab.

We were so caught up with the contents we forgot to sweep the place for cameras.

"Shit!" I cursed under my breath, bringing up my pistol and blasting the camera away with one clean shot.

"I heard shots!" A guard called.

"That's it, initiate the incineration purge!" Another ordered.

"Incineration?!" Bailey hissed in alarm.

I didn't know what the guard meant exactly, but I knew it wouldn't end well for us.

I quickly turned to Zheren, "Get. Us. Out. Now!"

Zheren looked around the lab and saw a second exit, without delay we rushed over to it and hammered furiously against the door panel.

A calm computerized voice echoed throughout the lab and sent shivers running down my spine.

"Request for contagion purge of laboratory five,zero,three denied. Subjects A-dash-zero,LO through to G-dash-zero,LO are registered as important elements for Project-"

The computerized voice was cut off in a flurry of static, before returning seemingly far colder than before.

"Override command accepted, beginning purge in three..."

I looked back to Zheren, horror stricken across my face.

"ZHEREN OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR!" Bailey shouted.

Zheren's eyes were alight with fright, "The lock cycle still needs to finish!" he exclaimed, sweat pouring down his face.

"...two..." the computerized voice said.

There was a loud 'hiss' and 'clunk' before the door slid away.

"It's open! Go, GO!" Zheren exclaimed pushing us both through the open door way.

"...one..."

We rounded the door, clambering in a heap on the floor, before a large gout of flame burst from the opening.

I felt the heat surge through my body as the three of us cowered on the white floor.

Soon, the flames subsided and after a brief moment of silence, I heard the computerized voice sing out. "Purge completed, have a nice day..."

_'That's one sick sense of humor.'_ I thought bitterly, as the three of us got to our feet.

"Jesus, that was close..." Zheren mumbled, looking at the black scorch marks the flames had left behind.

"This software better be worth it." Bailey seethed, checking his gun.

We had survived, however our victory was short lived. A group of three guards, armed with compact assault rifles rounded a nearby corner. We both froze, each party surprised by the others sudden appearance.

The guards were the first to act.

"O-open fire!" A guard commanded as they began to raise their rifles.

I gritted my teeth, "Gladly." I sneered under my breath, bringing up my pistol and firing in one smooth motion.

The bullet hit one of the guards in the arm with a wet meaty rip, causing the guard to topple over, clutching his now bleeding arm.

The other two hesitated, startled by the agonized yelps from their comrade.

Without being ordered by Zheren, we broke into a run. Bailey opened fire with his own weapon as we bolted, forcing the guards to take cover, stopping them from returning fire.

"Move! This way!" Zheren called, stress cracking his voice. Bailey and I ran after him, as we heard one of the guards alerting the others to our position.

"Hostiles are moving towards the Data Room via corridor nineteen! I've got a man down and requesting immediate backup!

We rounded a bend, following Zheren's lead to find a corridor that was lined with monitors, which blared some kind of promotional flick. Upon the monitors was a blonde haired teenager, no older than fourteen, dressed in a black suit and red tie. He shot the camera with a brilliant pearly white smile, before addressing it.

"Salutations, my name is Fermi Amati, CEO and Director for Pegasus Horizons. Here at the PH corporation we have a motto... to expand your horizons. And we intend to do just that. Currently Pegasus Horizons is entering in with a collaborative partnership with Wheaten Laboratories. One of the world's biggest researching firms, specializing in the highest quality GM foods, that you consume on a daily basis. What we hope to achieve with this new found partnership, is to increase our nation's GM exports tenfold. As well as financing Wheaten's endeavors to produce and deliver an even higher quality product to you, the customer. Together, Wheaten and Pegasus Horizons will be working hard for your benefit. After all... we're here to expand your horizons..."

We bolted past the monitors as a group of guards, armed to the teeth with weaponry followed.

"What do we do now, do we escape?!" I shouted over the advertisements.

"We need to get to the Data Room! If we can get to the Data Room, we can secure ourselves inside. Don't worry, I've got a plan!" Zheren replied, running at top speed.

"STOP!" One of the guards called as they chased after us.

_'Like hell!_' I thought as we turned another corner, just as a storm of bullets pinged off the surface where we were a second ago.

The corridor we had turned down was much shorter than the others, ending off with a circular metal door. We all grounded to a halt in front of the thick vault like door.

"This is it!" Zheren exclaimed, eying the circular door up and down. "The Data room is just through here!"

The shouts of the security guards echoed off the concrete walls, and Bailey doubled back to bide us some time.

"Can you open it?!" I yelled over the sound of the exchange of gunfire.

"Give me a second..." he replied, bringing a hand up to his ear.

"Trevino, relay that access code to me!" Zheren ordered hastily.

Making his way to an intricate panel beside the vault like door. He began hammering upon it furiously. Bailey let loose another round of gunfire before loading another magazine into his weapon. The guards returned fire, causing Bailey to fall back from his position.

"I can't hold em off, there's just too many!" Bailey exclaimed.

With more fiddling of the control panel, Zheren cracked the door wide open. The metal slid away, with a slow grinding screech, exposing a small dimly lit chamber. The room had a door, made from some kind of transparent material, supposedly leading to the data room. Beside the door was a metallic control panel with a small slot that required a key card.

An odd feeling struck up in my gut upon seeing the dim red auxiliary light. I began to ponder the exact nature of this chamber. However, with a mob of security behind us, we didn't have much time to think.

"Everyone in. Now!" Zheren shouted before running into the chamber.

Bailey and I followed while laying down an impressive score of gun fire, forcing the security guards to take cover, halting their advance down the corridor. Once inside the chamber the doors began to close automatically, the guards realized this and made a suicidal push, desperate to halt our advance. Bullets ricocheted off the closing metal doors as three guards advanced down the corridor. Bailey opened up with a fresh magazine, and one of the guard's head exploded, crumpling to the ground with a heavy thud.

"Man down! Man down!" a guard called, as the doors slid shut, joining together with a slow hiss.

Zheren pressed his back against the wall, staring at the metal door, sweat dripping down his face. His chest heaving up and down as he panted, clearly fatigued from the sudden volley of near death experiences.

Bailey was still facing the now closed vault like door, checking to see how much ammo he had in his remaining clip.

With a quick look around the room, I noticed the room had several security camera's located on the ceiling. The scattered gunfire from the guards had hardly left a mark against the walls, they even managed to hit the transparent door, causing the glass to chip slightly.

I figured this was some kind of security checkpoint, if you didn't have the clearance you couldn't get past. It would be near impossible to get through on force alone.

This was my chance...

Like a ghost I glided over to the panel, inserting a white and orange card.

A green light flashed around the panel and the transparent door, slid open.

Pistol still in hand, I aimed it directly at the key card slot, just to be sure.

'BLAM!'

Bailey and Zheren turned to see me step through the door before it closed behind me.

Zheren ran up to the door and saw the damaged key panel, a horrid look of realization crossed his face.

"Lawrence open the door!" Zheren seethed, his muffled orders falling upon my deaf ears.

"Lawrence!" He shouted, reaching for his back pocket, searching for his access card.

I turned to face him with a cold expression, slowly I held up both his card and palmtop computer.

Zheren's mouth fell slack as he looked at the key card and then to me.

"H-how?" he muttered.

"Swiped them off you when we took cover from the lab fire, it was pretty easy to get." I explained nonchalantly.

Zheren sneered before turning to Bailey, "Shoot him." He growled, stepping away from the glass.

Bailey raised his weapon and unleashed a silenced burst of controlled gunfire into the door.

I didn't flinch or back away as I heard the 'thwack, thwack, thwack' as the bullets collided with the door, forming fresh cracks within it's surface.

I chuckled darkly, "I wouldn't bother, you'll need far more firepower to blow open this door. And if I were you I'd conserve as many rounds as you can."

Zheren's hand shot up to his earpiece, fury burning in his eyes.

"Trevino! Trevino do you read!?" Zheren shouted.

I knew what the response would be.

"Trevino, answer me you fat shit!" Zheren screamed, a mix of fear and desperation twisting his face.

"The walls to the data room block all signals remember?" I stated, beginning to flick through Zheren's computer.

Zheren wrenched the earpiece off and threw it to the ground in anger.

"When I get out of here, you're fucking DEAD Lawrence!" Zheren growled pointing a filthy finger in my direction.

I looked up from the computer and cocked my head with a mocking smile,"Getting out? Not likely. I'd give you a couple of minutes before they'll have that door re-opened. And your benefactors aren't coming to save you. Why the hell would they help you? A mere contractor."

Zheren stared at me in shock, his expression screaming 'how?'

I rolled my eyes, "Did you really think I was that stupid? The access keys, the money, your equipment, your information. You were just a puppet, a tool for someone else. You're nowhere near smart enough to plan all this out, let alone have the influence to gather the info you had. So that begs the question... who is you're benefactor? Who are we working for!?" I scolded.

Zheren took a couple of steps back, shock and surprise clear on his face.

"What? No! There were no benefactors! We were working independently!" Zheren protested.

"Really?" I said flatly holding up the computer and showing it to Zheren.

"So how do you explain this?" I asked coldly.

Upon the screen was a document detailing a list of instructions for Zheren to follow, it read:

_Zheren._

_If you are reading this, then you've decided to aid us in our cause._

_Wheaten has a lab set up in the Downtown area of Lower LA. Within, is a treasure trove of software, which we know you will make good use of._

_What you do with this software is entirely up to you. We have no interest in it. This will be your payment, should you succeed._

_What you'll be doing is giving us access to the facility, once you've released the lockdown, we'll take care of the rest._

_Attached to this document are a list of access codes for the facility, as well as a couple of dossiers on a few individuals that may prove useful in breaching the facility._

_We'll be supplying you with funds and equipment, which we will discuss at a later date._

_Regards._

_-E_

Ps. It would be a good idea to delete this message after you've memorized it.

"Guess you didn't follow through huh?" I remarked, lowering the device.

Zheren staggered back, raising a hand to his head in dismay.

"This can't be happening..." He muttered.

"So who's this E character?!" I demanded.

"I-I don't know I never dealt with him directly! Only through dead drops and loose associates, I never saw him!" Zheren stammered.

I grimaced.

"Well then... I guess you're no use to me..." I stated coldly, turning to leave.

Zheren pressed hims hands against the glass.

"Wait!" he called.

"There might be something..."

I looked over my shoulder to stare at him.

"I was to release the deadlock once we got the software, after that we were to head along a specified route to our extraction. I don't know what they're after, but it wasn't the software I know that much..."

"Your point?" I asked gravely.

"My point, is that we were just the vanguard. They want something in this facility, I don't know what it is, but I've got a good idea after seeing those genetic screw ups back in that lab. Look, I'm sorry about leaving you in the dark all this time, but you can't just leave us here! It ain't human!" He pleaded, fear alight in his eyes.

I looked away.

"You know the thing about treachery?" I asked coldly.

No response.

"It works both ways..."

I walked ahead, keeping my gaze forward as I heard Zheren bang against the door desperately crying out to me.

"Lawrence! Please! It's not right! LAWRENCE!" He called.

I couldn't care less...


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: H-0LO

I walked on ahead, alone. The corridors became tighter as I advanced past the similar white washed walls. Everything was deathly quiet, nothing stirred within the sterilized halls.

_'How can anyone find their way through this place?'_ I thought, beginning my decent down a similar white staircase.

As I passed the last step, I walked out into a large domed room. The place was chockablock with monitoring equipment, server towers, monitors and printed readouts stuck to the wall in various locations.

But what caught my eye the most was the huge construct in the center of the room. There was a huge conglomeration of thick pipes and wiring, twisting and wrapping around each other like colossal metal snakes. The massive pipes lead from the top of the domed ceiling, all the way down to a metallic

man-sized capsule, located in the center of the spherical shaped room. Upon the capsual, printed in big block letters was another serial code.

'H-0LO'

I stared at the capsule a little longer. Before I spotted something stirring over to the left of me. I quickly brought up my gun, aiming in the direction of whatever it was. My sights were met with a young brunette dressed in a lab coat, she shrieked in terror when I spotted her.

"Don't move!" I shouted in surprise, keeping my gun trained on her.

I heard a voice call out to me.

"No Please! Don't!"

It didn't belong to the girl, but an elderly man, who raised his hands in a placating gesture as he came out from his hiding place.

I kept my gun trained on the girl, but my attention switched to the old man.

"D-don't hurt her, s-she doesn't mean any harm." The old man stammered, fear cracking his aged voice.

"You've got about three seconds to tell me who you people are..." I growled, fixing the old man with my glare.

"My name is Yoitsu, Professor Yoitsu. I am one of the head researches here at the facility." He explained, lowering his hands, occasionally glancing at the gun.

I got the hint and lowered the gun, as the young brunette fell to her knees, sobbing.

_'Well ain't I a monster...'_ I thought bitterly, before strolling up to the professor.

"So you're the head researcher, huh?" I asked cooly, the man began backing away from me, fear glimmering in his eyes.

"W-well, I-I..." he stammered, the colour draining from his face.

I firmly gripped the professor's shoulder, causing the poor man to groan and grab my arm in pain. I loomed over him, securing my dominance in the situation. I had all the power, he had none.

"Well since you're the man in charge, you'd know where the access ports to your server are… right?" I asked, tightening my grip ever so slightly, causing the old man to wince.

However, his disposition changed. He lost his fear, which was swiftly replaced by anger.

"The Server? Why? What are you after?" The old man demanded, a twinge of fear still lingering in his voice.

"That's none of your business old man, where is it?!" I growled, my patience wearing thin.

"Do you honestly think you can come in here, wave a gun around and expect us to give into you?!" The old man snapped, his face crinkled into a frown.

I yanked the man towards me, pulling his face close to my own.

"You will, if you're smart."

"I'm not giving you a damn thing!" He seethed defiantly.

My face fell as I cleared my mind. I couldn't think about it, or I would hesitate and lose the upper hand. I only needed to act.

Shoving the man back, I raised the dense metallic gun in my hand. With a weighty swing, I brought down the pistol onto his face. There was a meaty cracking noise as the metal collided with the man's nose. I felt a warm wet splash against my hand, as the man toppled backwards, clutching his face in pain.

"Professor!" The woman screamed as she scrabbled onto her feet and rushed over to the professor's side.

Yoitsu coughed and spluttered, as dark streams of red, streaked down his face.

"You Thug!" She screamed at me, rage contorting her tear stained face.

My eyes grew colder as I shifted my gaze to look at her. And a horrible feeling of guilt and sympathy stirred in my gut, nearly breaking my hardened exterior.

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet..." I sneered, cocking the gun and lowering it to point at her head.

The woman gasped and Yoitsu's eyes bulged.

"NO! Stop. I... I'll tell you... I'll tell you whatever you want..." He stammered, his pathetic bloody face begging for me to restrain myself.

My attention shifted back to the old man.

"That's what I want to hear..." I replied smoothly, as I lowered the pistol away from the girls head.

"Where is it?" I asked in a harsh tone.

The woman's tear filled gaze switched between myself and the professor.

"Professor, no! Don't-" The woman pleaded but was cut off by the old man.

"I'll tell you, so long as you let her go..." Yoitsu stated, not daring to glance at the brunett. His gaze locking with mine.

I pondered this for a moment. Wondering if I should really let this girl go... After all, she could run and get help. But there was something in the man's eyes that compelled me to think otherwise. Was it sympathy? Was it guilt? I couldn't say...

With a small glance to the woman, then back to the professor, I nodded.

The professor smiled in relief and turned to face the girl by his side.

"Marlene, get out of here." He said through a broken and bloody smile.

"Professor, I don't want to leave you!" Marlene protested.

"I'll be fine, just go... go." He stated.

Marlene went to protest, but thought better of it. Instead she went to hug the old man, blood staining her white lab coat.

"Thank you..." she whispered, before breaking off her embrace and running to the nearest exit, never looking back.

I watched as she disappeared around the corner, the feeling of guilt pressed down heavily upon me.

The old man's gaze lingered where the girl was once standing, a content smile on his face. I decided that we had wasted enough time as it is.

"Now then professor..." I said flatly, walking over to the old man and pulling him off from the ground by the collar of his shirt.

"Where's the access port?" I asked, in a much more civil manner.

Yoitsu pointed weakly at a nearby control panel and an array of monitors.

"Over there, you can gain access to the servers from there..."

I pushed him to face the panel quickly pressed the gun against his head.

"Move..." I ordered.

I needed some sort of incentive to keep the situation in my favor. If I had the professor hostage, security might hesitate to come after me... might...

The professor and I shuffled towards the control panel. The blow I had given him must've dealt more damage then I intended, but he was moving non the less.

Upon the glowing monitors, I noticed that some were displaying data that resembled a heartbeat monitor, with the title 'H-0LO' at the top. I glanced over to the metal capsule in the center of the room and shivered.

_'Could something be alive in there?'_ I thought as we reached the control panel.

I pushed the old man onto the many buttons and switches that ran along the panel. My gun still pointed at his head.

"Access the server..." I ordered and the old man obeyed, picking himself up from the panel and began typing onto a keyboard.

I looked up at a nearby monitor to see it displaying a security feed of the checkpoint that I had left Zheren and Bailey trapped in.

My eyes widened as I saw the room was swarming with guards, Zheren and Bailey were nowhere to be seen. However, the two blood stained smears along the walls, gave me a pretty clear indication of their fate.

The old man glanced at the monitor and spoke.

"I saw what you did... you're a cold man selling out your friends like that..."

I didn't look at him.

"They weren't my friends." I stated coldly.

The guards in the room were looking for a way in, but were halted by the door panel that I had shot. Suddenly a voice perked up over the monitor.

"Professor! Can you hear us in there? Professor, are you alright?" One of the guards called.

I stared at the monitor, thinking of a way to bide myself some time, they'd figure out a way to get in eventually.

"Can you patch us through to them?" I asked.

Yoitsu nodded, "Yes I can..."

My eyes narrowed and my voice became sharper.

"Put us through and say exactly what I say, got that? If you misquote even one word, I'll send your brains flying across the lab... understand?"

Yoitsu nodded again, hastier this time, as he pushed a nearby yellow button.

"Professor is that you?" A guard asked worriedly, staring into one of the cameras.

I leaned into the old man and whispered in his ear, my gun still pressed against him.

"This is Professor Yoitsu, yes everything is fine..." I cooed.

The old man swallowed hard before repeating, "This is Professor Yoitsu, yes everything is fine..." he said in a surprisingly calm voice.

"The lockdown is still in effect, none of them entered." I whispered again and Yoitsu was quick to respond.

"The lockdown is still in effect, none of them entered." The old man responded.

The guard on the monitor nodded, "And what of Subject Eight?" He asked, still concerned.

I blinked. 'Subject Eight?' I thought, glancing back to the wired man sized capsule before returning back to the professor.

"Nominal." I whispered.

"Nominal." The old man replied.

The guard nodded once again. "We'll begin a sweep for the final assailant and remove the lockdown shortly, I am terribly sorry for any inconvenience professor." He stated, before saluting and faced the other guardsmen.

"Cut the coms." I ordered in a hushed voice.

Yoitsu did so without hesitation.

"Right. Now that they're preoccupied with hunting me down, let's get down to business..." I said rolling up my sleeve, revealing the circuit.

Yoitsu got a good look at my markings and his eyes widened. "An Ink circuit? So you must be a Data Miner then..." He made a dry chuckle.

"You're either a fool or a madman, you really think you can get away with this... Do you even know who you're stealing from?" Yoitsu asked in a mocking tone.

I fixed the electrode to my arm. And passed the other end to Yoitsu, still keeping my gun trained on him.

"Shut up and hook me in." I said flatly, glaring at him.

Yoitsu took the cable from me and plugged it into a nearby port. I felt a surge of electricity run up my arm and I quickly squeezed my hand into a fist. Looking at one of the many monitors and using a smooth touch pad, I began scouring through the server.

Many of the files contained data and programs that were beyond my understanding or interest.

Yoitsu stood with a small frown on his face, obviously displeased that I was scouring through the server files. I could have been intruding on his life's work for all I knew... And I didn't really care for that matter...

I scoured through the files, searching, seeking. Until my eyes fell upon the files containing the serial code 'X-100'. My eyes lit up as I stared at the big block letters upon the screen, a small sick smile tugged at the corner of my cheeks.

My finger hovered over the sleek black touch pad, one tap away from my goal. The risk was about to yield the reward. I felt the cool touch pad beneath my finger, when everything shook violently.

I stumbled back, but quickly gained my footing, while Yoitsu fell against the control panel, his eyes wide with fright. As the world around me shook, a horrid rumbling noise rung through my head. Deafening the both of us. My pistol nearly slipped from my grasp throughout the commotion, as the whole room vibrated like a jackhammer. I heard the blaring of a siren and my head whipped around wildly upon seeing the monitors and systems beginning to shut down.

"No..."

Yoitsu murmured, barely audible over the rumbling.

"NO!" he shouted, now fumbling with the controls.

The rumbling and shaking dissipated as quickly as it had appeared. After a quick scan of the room, I flicked my gaze upon Yoitsu who was hammering madly upon the controls. Muttering under his breath, "No time... no time... need to act now..."

I quickly trained my gun on him as my look of confusion quickly gave way to realization.

He was selecting everything he could within the server and intended to copy it directly into my ink circuit.

Such a massive transfer of information and data... I didn't know whether my body could withstand the surge of electricity.

The circuit itself was powered from the electrical current of the source you were transferring data with. The larger the files the higher the voltage of the current. If done with a gradual escalation, the circuit could easily adjust and compensate for the voltage increase. But if the escalation was too rapid, the grid wouldn't be able to adjust itself in time and the user would receive the excess voltage.

"Get away from the console!" I demanded through gritted teeth.

Yoitsu glanced at me for the briefest moment before returning to slamming the controls.

"I can't... I can't let everything we've done be for nothing!" Yoitsu said through gritted teeth as a few more systems within lab the shut down.

"What is all this data! TELL ME!" I shouted, the thought of pulling the trigger surfacing in my mind.

Yoitsu looked me dead in the eye, the old man's gaze becoming hard.

"The survival of mankind..." He said in a low grim voice.

My eyes widened, shocked by the man's statement, my trigger finger going numb.

My vision suddenly went white with pain as Yoitsu began the transfer.

I lost all feeling, except the insurmountable pain that shot up and down my body. I lost my sense of placement and time. The only thing present was the pain. It lasted for what could have been a few minutes or even seconds before my vision went black.

I couldn't feel anything around me, nor could I get my body to respond, did I even have a body anymore? I was a lone consciousness, trapped in an endless void. I couldn't tell whether it was a prison conceived by my own mind, in a last ditch effort to protect itself. Or I had perished, and was doomed to wander an empty limbo for the rest of time and space. In the end I realized it was neither, as I began to feel the discomfort of the hard cold steel floor.

The darkness I had seen, was in fact the lack of lighting within the room. The power had been completely sapped. However, with a dull flash, the area was illuminated in a weak red light, some kind of auxiliary power unit. I heard a faint hiss and crackle coming from somewhere to the left of me.

It took a fair proportion of my energy to roll my head to the left to see Yoitsu talking into a hand held coms device.

"Professor Yoitsu here, what's the situation captain?" The old man asked calmly into the device.

"Professor! Thank god you're alright sir! There was a large explosion down in the sub-levels, it took out both the main and secondary generators. We still have no idea how they pulled that off-" There was a sudden burst of gun fire that crackled over the small handled device.

"Captain? Captain respond!" Yoitsu yelled into the microphone, before the voice returned after a couple more shots.

"Still here sir! Shit these bastards are persistent..." The Guard cursed worriedly.

"What's your status captain?" Yoitsu asked worriedly.

"Soon after the generators went down, two breaches were made along the east and southern wings. Mechs. Dozens of them. They came out of no where sir, took down at least ten of our guys before we even knew what was going on!" There was a sharp pinging noise as gunfire ricocheted off a nearby surface and the guard swore again.

"We... we managed to bottle neck a lot of them at our position, but they're pushing hard sir! They seem hellbent on reaching the server room. We won't be able to hold this spot for long... not without heavy losses..." The guard admitted bitterly.

"Who are we even up against here?!" Yoitsu asked, running a hand through his graying hair.

"No idea, They look like fairly recent models, but they're all unmarked. I have no idea who's behind this attack. But... it's not important, did you save the data before we lost power sir?!" The guard asked worriedly.

Yoitsu nodded, "Yes, a large proportion of the data was secured before the power loss. It's safe." The professor stated with relief.

The guard sighed over the radio, "At least that's some good news. we're running low on EMP rounds but we'll bide you time. Get that data someplace safe, the project cannot end here!" The Captain shouted over the radio.

"But what about the researchers and facility personnel?!" Yoitsu exclaimed.

"Either dead or scattered. These machines are systematically breaking into and clearing rooms along their path to you. They're destroying whatever they can get their hands on, lab equipment, people, doesn't matter! All that matters is that you get out of here!" The guard shouted.

Yoitsu was silent for a long while before finally speaking. "I understand... good luck captain..." The old man said, his voice weighed heavily by sadness.

"God speed sir." The guard said before cutting off the call from his end.

Yoitsu stood motionless for a moment. "Goodbye old friend..." He whispered.

The old man suddenly turned his gaze to me, his sad expression turning to one of anger.

He quickly picked up my pistol that had fallen to the ground, his finger slipping through the guard and onto the trigger itself.

"Was this your doing!? Who sent the Mechs!?" The old man yelled, the black metal barrel of the gun pointing right at my head.

I was too weak to talk, I tried getting words out. To tell him that I had no idea what was going on. But it came out as unintelligible dribble. The old man only grew madder, he grabbed me by my jacket and with all his might, lifted me up before throwing me against a nearby console. I caught myself on the control unit as something hard drove into my back. I recoiled from the object before trying to stand before the old professor, as my gun was shoved into my face again.

'well isn't this ironic.' I thought bitterly, as I stared down the barrel of my own gun.

"Talk!" The old man shouted.

Before I could even get a sound out, there was an earsplitting hissing noise. Yoitsu flinched from the sound and turned to look for the source. The man sized capsule catching his gaze.

Some kind of white vapor was venting out of the capsule, shooting out in all directions with extreme amounts of pressure. Yoitsu quickly spun around, his eyes wide with fear before he quickly shoved me aside before staring at the large round button that had embedded itself into my back. It read 'Manual hydraulic release'.

Yoitsu quickly turned his gaze back to the capsule. "Of course! Without the power the mag-locks would have released... meaning... oh god..."

The professor dropped the gun in his hand and started to rush towards the capsule. He was about three feet away, before the metal capsule broke apart and opened in an explosion of vapor. The hissing jets shot towards the old man, who cried out and shielded himself with his arms.

When the white jets began to settle and swirl around the room, I saw another one of those strange glass tanks, filled with the same yellow solution. However, this was different. The liquid inside the tank looked like it was boiling, as small pockets of air shot up past the glass of the tank.

Through the vapor I managed to pick out a slender shadowy figure, suspended within the boiling yellow liquid. The figure looked like it was hooked up to some kind of life support system inside the tank, along with some heavy duty restraints.

Yoitsu just stared blankly at the figure, and I to was fixated on the enigmatic being inside. Images of the genetic monstrosities flashed in my mind, and I dreaded what was to come next. The old man began to approach the tank and it looked like the figure was looking right at him.

"What we did to you was necessary. We had no other option. The project had to go ahead, too much was at stake!" Yoitsu exclaimed, seemly talking to the figure inside the glass tank.

My eyes widened. 'Was this thing conscious? What the hell is in there?!' I thought, staring at the slender figure.

"It was necessary! You hear me! IT WAS NECES-" Yoitsu never had the chance to finish his justification, as what happened next occurred faster than my brain could process.

With an earsplitting shatter the glass tank disintegrated into tiny crystal like fragments, before the murky liquid came bursting out behind it. The shards of glass shattered towards the old professor, as the creature inside broke it's confinement.

In a blur of motion, whatever it was, hit the ground running. Lunching itself towards Yoitsu faster than I could see.

I heard the old man cry out, before seeing his limp body fly across the room at break neck speed, before going straight through a large LCD monitor.

The now broken body of the professor, lay crumpled and bloody inside the shattered screen.

He was dead.

My mouth fell open, shocked by how quickly the old man had been dispatched. The slender figure stood alone, obscured by the swirls of vapor. It must've possessed incredible strength in order to dispatch the old professor in such a manner. I looked for my gun, it was just a few feet away from me.

I felt like my legs were now strong enough to stand on, and I decided to take the chance.

I could make it. I pushed myself off the console, about to lunge for my weapon, when I felt two dainty hands grab the collar of my jacket.

Suddenly everything was a blur, I heard the air howl past my ears as I ungracefully flailed, hitting the curved wall of the room with a painful thump.

I felt the impact resonate throughout my body, before I slumped to the floor.

_'Christ almighty!'_ I thought, trying to clear my head.

Before I had even the chance to get my bearings, something hard and yet remarkably soft pushed against my windpipe. I gagged through the face mask I still wore, as I was hoisted up the wall until my feet no longer touched the floor.

I grasped at the thing at my neck, clawing at it, trying to break free. Upon grasping it, I discovered it was an arm... a human arm... A single arm had me pinned up and choking against the wall. I fearfully glanced down, my silvery gray eyes meeting ones of vibrant crimson, blazing with fury.

My whole body froze, as Yoitsu's murderer continued to choke me, I was totally petrified by the creature's gaze. It took a moment to realize I was staring into the face of a beautiful young woman, no older than twenty. She had soft subtle skin, free from imperfection and long deep copper hair, that extended down to her nude chest. Her slender naked body pressed up against mine, preventing escape attempts on my part. She was the embodiment of a goddess, with eyes of the devil himself.

I was so distracted by the fact that a gorgeous naked girl was choking me to death, it took me moment longer before I saw the ear's and tail. Two sharp triangular ears were atop her head, with a fluffy white tips at each end. And connected to the lower portion of her back was a long swishing copper tail, a dollop of white fur at the end.

I could only stare at the girl in wonder, fear and morbid fascination, before her lips curled back into a snarl...

She had fangs...


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Containment Breach.

I felt my heart pound in my chest. The razor like fangs gleamed in the dim lighting, chilling my body to the core.

My jaw trembled, as a savage growl ripped through the young girls mouth. Her ears shot upright, her tail straightening. I couldn't break away from her demonic stare, as she tightened her grip even further. I gagged, desperately thinking of a way to escape, but was coming up short in terms of a way out. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew this was the end. I'd die at the hands of a genetically enhanced killing machine, all because I was too greedy to say 'no'. What a joke!

I stopped struggling against her overwhelming might, feeling too exhausted to move. However, like a miracle from heaven, another explosion erupted from somewhere in the facility. Although it wasn't catastrophic, it was enough to distract the red haired monster. She turned away for the briefest moment, her ears twitching at the sound of the explosion, her tail dropping slightly. As she turned, she loosened her grip.

I acted on self preservation alone, propping myself against the wall I mustered the best kick I could manage, striking deep into the girl's exposed stomach. The girl yelped in surprise, as she dropped me. I slumped back against the wall coughing, as the wolf eared girl began to recover. She clutched her firm midriff with a delicate hand, but crouched into a low squat, bringing her head up and growled again. Soon she brought both her hands out to her sides, as she readied to pounce.

_'Great, that just pissed her off!'_ I griped, as I looked for anything to defend myself with.

On the console to my left, I saw a button encased in glass. Upon the glass printed in large red letters were the words 'Break in case of Emergency'.

I glanced between the button and the two wolf like ears upon the girl's head.

'Would it work? Could I reach it in time? What if I can't? What then?'

I ran the situation through my head, but as I saw the wolf's snarl once more, I acted.

"Fuck it!" I yelled, as I lunged for the button.

The wolf pounced as my hand shattered through the glass, shards sprayed everywhere and I smacked the button. A horrid blaring sound entered my ear cannal as the auxiliary lighting began to flash. I felt pain throb through my hand, large shards of glass had embedded itself when I smashed the glass. I grabbed my wrist, trying to slow the red ooze that seeped from my hand. My attention refocused on the girl and to my relief the plan had worked. She flexed and contorted at the sounds of the overwhelming alarm, her hands covering her fluffy wolf like ears, a pained expression on her face.

She lost interest in me, quickly vaulting the railing and bounding across the lab like an animal. In a few short moments... she had disappeared up the stairs, desperate to get away from the noise.

I lay there. The alarm still droning in my ears.

I couldn't break my eyes off the lab's stairway. Terrified that the demonic wolf girl would come back.

I waited for what could have been several minutes before I started to calm down.

_'Jesus...' I thought, 'Who the hell was that girl?'_

My mind began racing with more and more questions, so much so that I forgot my hand had been impaled. I winced and clutched it again. The longer I waited, the more the adrenaline began to wear off. The dull throb of being thrown against the wall began to deaden the right side of my body.

I tried to stand, using the side of the nearby console to prop me up. As I stood I heard the faint tinkling noise of my now broken equipment, originating from the torn bag. I gently lifted it off my shoulder, my hand shaking from the shock. I let it fall to the ground with a dull thump. I tore the cloth away from my face, breathing in deeply, glad to be free from the stuffy mask. The sound of shattering glass and gunfire came from somewhere in the facility, catching my attention. I began to freeze up again.

I stood there, trying to think of my next move. The facility was under attack, a crazy genetic experiment was on the loose, and I probably never got the software that had brought me to this little house of horrors in the first place. I raised my hand up into the dim light and began picking out the shards of glass, gritting my teeth with every shard I removed. I got as much out as I could, before wrapping my hand in the cloth and tying a makeshift bandage. The cloth wasn't exactly clean, but it was the best I had.

After retrieving my gun and a few essential cables from my bag, I decided to take my chances against the battle that raged just beyond the labs walls. Luckily, I still had Zheren's card and computer safely tucked in my jacket. And after I stuffed the cables into one of my pockets, I decided it was time to leave.

_'No point in staying here forever, they'd get to me eventually.' _I thought, ascending the laboratory steps.

The gun rested awkwardly in my cut hands, as I pointed it up the stair way. It shook unsteadily, I couldn't tell whether it was nerves or fatigue. Every step I took felt like agony but eventually I found myself in the now ruined security checkpoint. My silver eyes widened as I stared at the carnage before me. The bullet proof glass had been smashed, dense shards were strewn across the metal floor of the checkpoint. The vault door was wide open, and beyond lay a score of dead guardsmen.

I had to raise a hand to my mouth. The Guards who had obviously been station here had been brutalized. Limbs had been twisted and bent in ways they shouldn't, throats had been ripped open, blood pooling across the floor.

_'Did they even get the chance to fight back?'_ I pondered as I moved amongst the dead bodies.

However as I got a closer look at the slaughtered men, I realized that at least one of them had discharged their weapon. There was a small splatter of red against the white floor, followed by several drops. The drops moved away from the dead guards and rounded a corner.

It didn't take much to guess that the wolf girl had come through here. And from the looks of things, she had been injured from the fighting.

I peeked my head out around the corner to see the trail of red continue down the corridor.

My eyes widened and I threw myself against the nearest wall, my body aching as I pressed myself against it's flat surface. I peeked round the corner to see three well armed guards stationed near a sealed security door, ones they used to seal lab fires or to stop intruders.

_'I think I'll stay clear of that...'_ I thought, as the sound of gunfire echoed from somewhere in the facility. I had to get out fast. I managed a stumbled jog, as I tried backtracking through the facility. Passing the familiar monitors which now blared nothing but static.

"When the hell are reinforcements coming?!" I heard a voice stress, probably a guard.

"We can't get a line through to the outside, our communication lines have been totally blocked off!" Another replied.

"W-what?! Oh shit, we're so fucked!" The first guard wailed.

"Calm down! The captain ordered us to keep the east wing in check, we need to stay alert!" A third guard bellowed, silencing the other two.

"I know you're scared and the odds are stacked against us... but we all know what's at stake. The captain is managing to hold the main invasion force at bay, but it only a matter of time be-"

He was cut off by a cloud of heat and shrapnel, while the solid metal door liquified. I ducked back round the corner as the wave of heat hit me. The sound of gunfire and burning men echoed down through the hall, along with the droning wind of servo moters. When the heat began to subside I took another peek around the corner and my eyes bulged.

There was nothing left of the security door and two of the guards had been shredded by the explosion, the final guard was trying to crawl away, his legs mangled by the blast. My heart sank as two wide angular figures stepped into the hallway. They stood at least seven feet tall, heavy metallic plating covering their shoulder joints and internal motors. A singular ocular sight was planted in the middle of the thickly plated head, scanning the hall for more easy prey.

They were Atherion class Drones, used for frontal assault operations and infantry support roles. These things could shrug off most small arm rounds and packed enough firepower to wipe out a full man squad in seconds. I watched the two Drones march stiffly into the hall, their powerful metal feet clanging against the now scorched floor, each wielding high grade Pulse Rifles. They quickly reached the surviving guardsmen, who began to sob at the sight of the two mechanical monstrosities. One was quick to end his misery, lifting a heavy leg before bringing it down hard onto the downed guardsman's head.

It was like watching a tomato burst under a vise.

I covered my mouth as I whipped back from around the corner, taking deep steady breaths to calm myself. I glanced down at my compact pistol, there was no way I'd be able to fight back with this. I heard the heavy footsteps of the Drones advance down the hall. It would only be a matter of time before they saw me.

I turned and ran back down the hall. If they spotted me, I'd be shredded by their rifles. I rounded the corner as the two drones stopped at the opposite end. I prayed that they would move on from this hall and sweep somewhere else.

But fate can be a bitch sometimes. And after a few mechanical clicks the two drones began advancing down the hall, seemingly picking up their pace.

I ran, the sound of the quickened metallic footsteps echoing after me. The opened vault door blurred past me, as I blindly followed the narrow hallway, solid red door panels and closed metal either side of me.

With a quick glance behind me I saw the two Drones beginning to round the corner, they're bulky weapons poking out into the white hall. I quickly took cover in a nearby doorway before I heard the two drones advance around the corner. They shortly began their sweep of the hall, heading towards me.

I looked around wildly for a way to escape. If I broke cover, I'd be shot to bits. And seeing as my pistol wouldn't even put a dent in them, my only hope was getting through this door. I peeked around the corner to see the two Drones marching steadily down the hall. Their primitive robotic movements made them look like stiff tin soldiers, and soon they'd be upon me. However when the two began to pass the vault door, they suddenly halted.

After a few moments more, they quickly spun to their right and proceeded towards the vault door, their weapons raised high.

I furrowed my brow, I didn't know what altered their course, but It gave me the chanced I needed to escape. And that's when I realized the change in one of the door panels. The red light had been altered to a solid green, indicating it's deadlock had been lifted. Someone must've either broken the seal, possibly from the outside, or the building deadlock had lifted. Given that the remaining door panels that ran down the hall were still red, I figured it was the former.

I waited for the Drones to disappear completely, before deciding to make my move. If I wandered bindly through the facilities hallways, I'd have a high chance of running into more guardsmen, or even worse, Atherion Drones.

I broke cover, gazing at the control panel and reading what was displayed.

The door was locked with a level five encryption, this would have been a problem, But I had Zheren's card with me. With a swipe of the white and orange card, the door flashed green once, before giving off a small high pitched chime.

I heard the faint sound of shuffling behind the door's cool metal surface, someone was in there. The door opened with a hiss and I shot through it with out a second thought.

My heart was pounding in my chest, all these surges of adrenaline couldn't be good for me.

I was in a tiny room, lined with small square lockers and cabinets. By the corner of the room, I noticed a lean female figure, dressed in a lab coat.

As she turned to face me, I gazed upon the face of the strange woman, only to see the terrified face of Marlene; the research assistant from before.

"N-no not you, it is you isn't it! Oh god!" She quivered as I quickly brought my pistol up, purely on instinct.

She started to scream and the threat of the Drones hearing her and coming to investigate was too great. I had no choice and reacted. I rushed over to her and grabbed her by the mouth, forcing her up against the lockers.

"Shut up!" I whispered harshly. "Have you got a death wish or something? Because by all means keep screaming, I'll shut you up myself."

Marlene began to sob, big salty tears splashed against my hand.

I began to calm down, I needed to get out of here and she probably knew of a way out.

"Marlene right? The research assistant to Yoitsu?" I queeried in an uneasy tone.

The girl managed a small fearful nod.

"Then I guess you know the layout of the facility, how do I get out of here?" I asked glancing at the door while lowering my hand from her mouth. Keeping the pistol trained on her, just in case.

The girl was silent for a moment before speaking.

"Where's the professor?" She asked in a cracked voice.

I grimaced. What was I going to say? That Yoitsu had been murdered by his own fucked up creation?

I thought it best to avoid the question entirely.

"Just answer my question." I stated coldly.

She stiffened her lower lip. "I-I'm not telling you anything!" She seethed, glancing nervously at the gun.

She was either incredibly brave, or extremely stupid.

Maybe a bit of both.

I sighed, "If you're going to be difficult that's fine."

I holstered the pistol.

"I'll find my own way out, don't get in my way." I growled, shooting her a threatening glare.

Marlene chuckled darkly. "Huh, like we're getting out alive, those things killed everyone."

I frowned, "I'm not like everyone..."

She looked away, sadness returning to her face. "I bet they all thought that."

I bit my lip, she was right. The odds weren't good. But if I didn't risk it, I'd end up dead anyway. It's an all or nothing gambit.

I glanced around the room, looking for something, anything. When I spied the thing of my salvation, an air duct, big enough for a man to fit through.

_'Suppose you'd need a lot of air for such a claustrophobic facility.'_ I mused, looking at the thick steel grate that covered the air duct's entrance. I'd have to climb the lockers to get at it, but if I could use it to get outside of the facility, I'd severely reduce the risk of my escape. It was worth a shot.

I turned away from her.

"Fine. Stay here and cry for all I care." I stated flatly before walking over to the lockers.

"But I'm not going to wait around to be killed..." I grumbled before lifting my foot up onto one of the locker handles and lifted myself up using my arms.

It was a struggle, I winced at my injuries as I sprung up onto the lockers. I bit back against it and

with one final heave, I managed to haul myself on top. I panted, out of breath from simply lifting myself up. There wasn't a lot of room available, but I managed to reach the metal grate.

I noticed that the bolts that secured the grate were weak on one side. With some repositioning and a few swift kicks, the grate came loose. I proceeded to grab the metal and with a strained grunt, I managed to pull the grate off with a loud 'CLANG.'

I hissed as I put the grate aside, hoping the noise I made wouldn't attract unwanted attention. I didn't expect it to be that loud.

"You seriously think you're going to get out of here? You got a snowballs chance in hell!" Marlene scorned.

I looked back at her, a nonchalant smile touching my lips. "That's a chance I'm willing to take."

The research assistant gave me a curious look, before turning to one of surprise as I offered her a hand up.

"Coming?" I asked extending my hand out to her.

Marlene was silent for a moment. "Why would you want to help me?"

I shrugged. "Maybe I hate to leave someone to die? Maybe I'm just feeling nice." I answered bluntly.

Marlene glared at me. "You were certainly fine about leaving your friends to die." She hissed, obviously referring to Zheren and Bailey.

I dropped my hand as a grimace crossed my face. "That was different..." I mumbled.

"How was that different?!" she seethed.

'CLANG...'

Both of our eyes widened as the sound echoed through our minds.

'CLANG...'

Slowly we looked towards the door, before another earsplitting 'CLANG' echoed around the tiny locker room. The Drones were trying to break through...

Marlene shivered, wrapping her arms around herself out of fear as she backed herself into a corner.

"Oh god, they're going to kill us... they're going to kill us all." She wailed, tears now rolling down her cheeks.

I clenched my teeth. She was a complete wreck.

The metal clanging grew louder, and small dents began to appear in the door. They were getting through.

"Marlene!" I called trying to get her to focus.

"We're dead... we're dead!" She whimpered, over and over again.

My mind raced, why was I trying to save this girl?

I had my exit, why wasn't I leaving?

"Is this what the professor would have wanted!?" I screamed over the metallic bashing.

This got her attention, she gazed over to me with dark wet patches running down her face. I glanced over to the horribly battered metal door. _'A few more hits like that, and it'll bust wide open!'_ I noted before refocusing my attention on Marlene.

"I know you're scared! But you have to pull through it! Yoitsu would never forgive you if you threw it all away like this!" I called as the Drones slammed against the metal door, determined to get in. Determined to kill us.

Marlene got up from the floor, her arms dropping to her sides. She stared at me with what looked like... hope in her eyes.

"Now stop being an idiot and take my hand!" I called, extending it out to her.

She raced over to me, her hand reaching out for mine.

Just mere inches away.

When the door gave...

I barely had a chance to react to what happened.

As soon as the brutally battered door slammed to the floor, the large black barrel of a Pulse Rifle came poking through. A single soulless optical sight was fixed upon Marlene. The rifle rung out with a deafening fizz, as shards of metal filled the room, whizzing towards their mark. The poor lab assistant never had a chance.

In an instant, her body was torn outwards, as the metal penetrated her flesh and erupted out the other side with a trail of gory red behind it. I stared in numbed shock at the lifeless body, still staggering towards me, shards of metal continuously tearing through it. Her once white lab coat was streaked with red, pouring down the exit wounds she had received. Her eyes lost the hope they once held, now replaced by a dull glaze. She had died before she even knew what happened.

I forced myself away, diving into the exposed air vent as the pulse rifle now pointed in my direction. Shrapnel ricocheted around the entrance to the vent as I crawled like mad. There was a bend just up ahead, If I could get to that. I'd be safe.

I heard the thick meaty thump of Marlene's body hitting the floor of the tiny room. And somewhere in the back of my mind, I felt sorry for her. Adrenaline surged through my body as I heard the sound of heavy metal coming towards the air duct's entrance.

I shuffled around the corner, pulling my legs close to my chest to hide as much of my body as I could. The Drone shoved it's gun into the air duct and let loose with the rifle. Metal collided with the corner, pinning off in all directions. I felt pain surge across my cheek as a stray shard of metal clipped me. I winced from the pain and the rifle fire ceased. I heard the mechanical clicking noises emanate from the entrance, before the gradually disappearing sound of metal footsteps echoed down the vent. It had left as quickly as it had appeared.

I sat there in the dark. Alone.

It took me a while before I slowly shifted out of my fetal position and lay on my back in the enclosed space.

"I had her... I had her... I had her... I had her... I had her..."

It took me a while before I realized I was whispering that.

I closed my eyes and sighed. 'This fucking job gets better and better.' I thought sourly as I began to collect myself.

I had no idea where the air vent would lead me, nor did I know who these Drones belonged to and why they were attacking Wheaten. I reached into my pocket and retrieved my phone. To my luck, the app I used to monitor Trevino's computer was still running. The green line that indicated the flow of traffic passing through the node had raised considerably. There was a lot of traffic going through it. And when I tried to view who the comms chatter belonged to, it came up as an unclassified source.

My brow furrowed, someone had managed to mask their communications signal. And I had a hunch it was the same people who were relaying orders to the Drones.

I rolled onto my stomach and began to crawl. _'No point in being stuck here.'_ I thought.

As I moved through the ducts I'd often pass grates that covered the ventilation duct's openings. They'd reveal nothing but gory slaughter. The facility's personal had been totally wiped out.

Often I'd spot Drones marching past the grates, heading towards some unknown destination.

They were crawling all over the facility. I continued crawling though the shaft, hoping to find some kind of exit from this wretched place, when I heard a noise.

It was a cry. A cry of sheer desperation and exhaustion. It was coming from one of the grates within the duct, it was just ahead of me. I slowly shuffled forward, trying to stay as quiet as possible as I moved towards the grate.

Light came pouring in from the outside, illuminating the dark air duct in which I was crawling. I craned my neck to peek outside, trying to find the source of the desperate cries. And as I gazed through the slits in the grate, my eyes widened.

Below me were four Atherion Drones, each with their backs towards me. But before them lay what could have been three, maybe five decimated Atherion Drones. Their plates were shattered, the internal components had been ripped out and scattered. But what surprised me the most was the wolf eared girl, standing at a dead end.

She had been trapped between a swarm of Drones and a heavy duty security door. Her naked body was covered in scratches and bruises, her blood red eyes staring murderously at the remaining Drones. Her lips curled back into a snarl and I noticed she cradled her left arm protectively. It had been cut pretty bad, a stream of dark red dripped from the wound and onto the floor.

The Drones had their rifle's raised and trained on her, but for some reason they had not opened fired.

In a sudden flash of movement, the savage wolf girl lunged at them, growling insanely. The Drones swiftly responded, opening fire around and in front of her. She stumbled, some kind of instinct kicked in as she cowered, trying to shield her self from the Drone's fire. She cried out, and that same cry of desperation rang through the facility, a human cry.

My jaw slackened, as I watched her back up to the security door once more, and the Drones retook their original positions. 'Did they want her... alive?' I thought, furrowing my brow.

That's when I caught her staring. She was looking right at me. Her red eyes no longer screaming murder, but begging for pity.

I felt something click, call it fate or divine intervention, maybe I felt this was a way to amend Marlene's death. I don't know what it was exactly, all I knew was that she needed help. My help.

I bit my lip as she threw herself again at the Drones, only to be forced back against the wall with their relentless fire. She screamed that desperate cry of hers once again.

There had to be something I could do!

I glanced down at the destroyed remains of the Drones, she could beat them.

All she needed was a distraction...

_'Could I do it?'_ I thought, pondering the implications if I got involved. Was she too wounded to do it?

It was a crazy idea.

But if I could pull it off, I'd give her a chance.

I reached for the pistol in my jacket, pulling it out slowly before aiming for one of the bolts in the grate.

With a sharp intake of breath I fired, praying that this would work.

The grate loosened with the shot and I swiftly brought my leg up and kicked it out. With one hit, the grate fell loose, hitting one of the Drones in the head.

I grited my teeth before wildly firing three shots at the group of Drones. My shots ricocheted off their thick armor like it was nothing. However, their detection subroutines kicked in, and the two that I managed to hit turned to face their ocular sights towards me.

It was all that she needed. Realizing her assailants were distracted, she rushed to the unaware Drones.

With incredible form she leaped upon one, nimbly climbing up to it's head before brutally wrenching it off in a flurry of sparks. The headless drone began to fire wildly, metal ricocheting through the hall. The wolf girl wasted no time, jamming her hand through the Drones neck and tearing out what looked like the Central Processing Unit. The Drone froze, before losing balance, toppling to one side as she deftly jumped off of it.

The Drones refocused their attention upon her, one lining up their weapon to fire. It was far too slow.

The girl lunged forward, landing on both her hands before bucking the Drone into a wall with a deafening crash. Some of the Drone's plates shattered as it hit the wall with incredible force, it lay motionless, frozen by the crash.

The other two began to back away, raising their weapons, trying to fire. Again too slow. She dashed to the side before launching into them, her bare hands finding the gaps in the plating. With a savage growl she ripped them off their frame work before tearing into their exposed electronics and wiring. It wasn't long before both Drones ceased functioning.

She had done it. She had won.

Her victory was short lived. One surviving Drone, the one who had been crushed into the wall, sprung out and grabbed her by the throat. The girl gagged as the metal fingers constricted tightly around her throat. She tried breaking it's grip with her remaining strength, but she could barely hold off the jointed finger like vice. She groaned in pain as the damaged Drone's grip grew tighter.

_'She's going to die!'_ I screamed in my head.

Her neck was going to break like a twig if I didn't do anything.

She cried out in pain, it was such a human cry.

I reacted.

Without thought or reasoning, I jumped out of the air duct, landing upon the tiled floor with a thud.

The Drone had it's back to me, ever tightening it's grip on the girl. It's heavy plates had been broken from it's fall before, it's delicate and fragile electronics exposed.

I ran at the Drone from behind before shoving my gun up through one of the gaps in the plating.

'BLAM, BLAM, BLAM!'

Each shot caused the Drone to lurch violently. I must've done some damage to it, for it's body began to twitch and jerk, dropping the wolf girl. She fell to the ground limp, coughing and wheezing as she clutched her throat. At least she was alive.

The Damaged drone tried to face me, sparks flying with the tiniest movements. White smoke fizzled out from the inside.

My brow furrowed, and with a final 'BLAM!' The Drone seized up and toppled to the side with a mighty crash.

Things were now silent in the hallway.

The only sound I could register was the thrumming of my own heart. I sighed and staggered, a dull pain echoing through my body as the adrenaline wore off. My gaze wandered to the so called 'Subject Eight' who now backed up against the wall, her hair quivering as she moved away from me.

She was bloody and beaten all over, hardly the fearsome sight she was before. She still had a large cut running down her arm, it had reopened and was bleeding again. I looked around for anything that might help.

A little way down the hall was a medical bay. I staggered towards it as fast as my body would allow, opening up the door with the swipe of Zheren's card. I returned to the girl shortly, a first aid kit in hand.

I slowly knelt before her, holstering my gun as I did so.

It didn't look like she had any strength left.

I slowly shuffled towards her, wincing slightly as she snarled at me. I put the kit on the floor and took out a bandaged, moving as slowly as possible. The girl's fearful eyes began turning to one of curiosity, her ears perking up as she looked at the bandage. I edged a little closer, pondering how she would act, I was only inches away from touching her.

I raised my hand, she tried backing away from it, only to be met with the wall.

"It's ok..." I murmured, I didn't even know if she understood me.

She cocked her head, blinking curiously. She didn't look like she was afraid of me.

"Your arm's hurt, I can help." I offered, moving ever more slowly towards her.

She stopped backing away, her ears twitching with curiosity. She watched my hand as I touched her bloody forearm. It was so tender, yet also softer than cotton. I'd never felt anything like it.

I exhaled sharply, my heart was racing in my chest, I was afraid she was going to lash out at me for making a wrong move.

Focusing on nothing else, I wound the bandage firmly around her injury. Making sure that the bandage was enough to keep the wound closed. After tying off the bandage as neatly as I could, she quickly investigated her new dressing. Her ears flickered and her tail slowly swished as she lightly touched the bandage.

I began tending to the rest of her wounds, applying plasters to her smaller cuts and grazes. It was amazing she pulled through with so little injuries. As I applied the plasters, I cleaned the gory red off her arms and body. That's when I realized, that it wasn't her blood...

Images of the torn apart squad flashed in my mind.

I shook it off.

_'She won't do that to me... will she?'_ I thought nervously.

I had every right to be nervous, she had ripped a whole squad apart and took down several Drones after that. She was a killing machine.

'Why am I helping her?!' The rational part of me screamed.

As I thought this over, the girl was busy feeling her plasters and dressings. Her eyes blinking rapidly and her ears twitched with curiosity.

It was kinda cute.

I continued with her treatment, reaching into the kit and removing a standard medical injector. This is when things got complicated. All it contained was some antibiotics, so her wounds wouldn't get infected. However as I went to press the injector to her skin, her eyes widened with fear and she grabbed my arm in her firm grip.

She began snarling again.

_'Did she have a phobia of needles?'_ I thought with a gulp, terrified that she was going to tear out my throat.

I gazed into her eyes and said in a low voice, "Trust me..."

Her snarl vanished and she fixed me with a strange look. It was a look of someone who had never experienced kindness before.

I took advantaged of her distracted state as I pressed the injector onto her arm and pressed the button.

There was a small hiss and the clear liquid was administered into the girl's arm.

She yelped in surprise and quickly rubbed the spot on her arm, pulling it away from me. She frowned, obviously displeased by my actions.

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad!" I groaned.

She rolled her eyes and looked away from me.

My mouth dropped open.

_'She could understand me?'_ I thought.

"Hey... listen..." I said slowly,

She returned her cool red gaze back to me.

"You wanna get out of here don't you?" I asked.

She blinked, before slowly looking to the door.

"So... how about this... I get you out of here and in exchange you fight off anyone who gets in our way. Deal?" I asked, standing and offering her a hand up.

She looked at the hand and then up to me, her head cocking slightly.

'Ok, maybe she can't understand me...' I thought as I bent down and helped her onto her feet.

She wobbled for a moment before clinging to me for support.

"Whoa! Take it easy." I said, surprised she so readily accepted my help. Maybe I had earned her trust?

I felt her warm naked body against mine, her body heat radiating through my jacket.

I quickly took my hooded jacket off, removing the gun and holster before placing the jacket around her shoulders. I quickly zipped it up, keeping her decent.

…I thought it was appropriate.

She tugged at the jacket, her nose twitching as she sniffed the fabric. Her tail wagged, I gathered she was pleased with it.

'A word of gratitude would be nice' I griped in my head, re-securing the holster and gun around my chest. I checked my gun, nine shots left...

"It's going to have to do." I sighed. "Come on, let's go."

I Helped her walk to the heavy security door. Quickly moving towards the door panel and opening the door with Zheren's card. I didn't know where this door would lead, but I knew more of those Drones would show up sooner or later... we had to move.

With a heavy clunk and a hiss, the security door released it's lock.

The door slid open and the bright lights of neon city lights glimmered against the gray skies of lower LA.

City air flooded the hall and my mouth fell open. Somehow, this wolf girl had found an exit from this hell hole. Before us was an extensive open topped loading dock, leading onto a street beyond. The flashing red and blue lights of the LAPD emanated from a line of armored police cars that barricaded the street.

People crowded behind police lines, while men dressed in masked tactical suits holding sleek black assault rifles held them at bay. I didn't know how the police would react if they saw the naked wolf girl. They were the last people we wanted to piss off now.

I quickly hugged the wolf girl close to my body, bringing her out of her awed state.

She was seeing the outside world, possibly for the first time. She frowned at me in confusion as I got the hood of her jacket and pulled it over her head, covering her wolf ears.

Her copper tail still poked out underneath the jacket, but there was nothing I could do about it.

I ushered her along as fast as I could across the loading dock. The power had been cut from the dock's lighting, giving us plenty of shadow to conceal ourselves. There was a side passage that ran down the side of the facility. I needed to get back to the van I came here with. As for Trevino... I'd deal with that bridge when I came to it.

I glanced over to the group of Police, it looked like they were just blocking off the area, waiting for back up. 'I guess the explosion must've tipped them off.' I noted as we both reached the side pass.

The dock ended in a ledge no more than a meter high. I jumped off of it, landing upon the ground below with a thud. I turned back up to the girl.

"Come on, it's not that high." I said in a hushed voice.

She looked at me for a moment before stepping off the dock. She landed with perfect form, her bare feet daintily landing upon the ground. I looked down the side passage, it was the same one where Zheren, Bailey and myself entered Wheaten.

"I guess things do come full circle." I mumbled.

I cautiously began walking down the alley, fully expecting a Drone to come bleeding out of the wall. I turned to see the strange girl gazing up into the dark skies, her mouth falling slack as she took in the surroundings with her crimson eyes.

I sighed, before storming back over to her.

"Come on!" I hissed, grabbing her wrist and leading her down the alley.

Upon seeing more police stationed around the entrance of Wheaten. I quickly hugged her close to my chest, putting myself between them and her. She made a small yelp in surprise as I brought her in close, but she didn't seemed to be bothered by it. We exited the alley and walked out onto the street, I spotted the dozens of police that surrounded the entrance. Heavy Assault rifles resting snugly in their gloved hands.

Luckily there was a group of onlookers nearby and I quickly moved behind them, blocking ourselves from the watchful eyes of the police. The girl kept turning her head wildly, observing all the sights and sounds. A look of confusion and fear flashing across her face. I pulled her back into me, as I skirted along the growing crowd.

As we brushed along the side, I managed to pick up a few snippets of conversation as we walked.

"What happened here?" One asked. A man.

"Looks like, the feds have come to secure Wheaten..." Another added ominously, a girl this time.

"You don't think it has anything to do with that explosion we heard earlier?"

I lost track of the voices, losing them amongst the crowded police barrier. I looked over at the building it self. Black smoke was billowing out of many of the gaps, but the structure itself looked relatively unscathed.

_'How did those Drones even get in?'_ I noted with curiosity before reaching the opposite side of the street. The wolf girl was mesmerized by the sights and sounds of the city. Her crimson eyes darting left, right and center, her ears twitching wildly beneath the obscuring hood, picking up the slightest sound.

Walking along the sidewalk attached a few glances, a bit of her tail was still poking out from the jacket.

But the commotion at Wheaten was drawing most of the attention. Whenever a person would get too close, the girl would press her self against me and a small snarl would tremble at the corners of her lips.

She was afraid of them... Can't say I blame her...

Eventually we turned down the tight alley that lead to Zheren's van. The one which I assumed was given to him by his benefactors. I released the wolf girl from my grasp, before moving towards the van. I grabbed the back door and swung it wide open.

Trevino Jumped at the sound of door opening, minimizing whatever game he had been playing.

"L-Lawrence? You're back a-already? Wow. You look terrible!" The blubbery man stammered.

I didn't answer him. I just fixed him with a cold gaze, my mind processing what I needed to do. I needed to get rid of him. I needed to disappear and quick. He was in my way. The last loose end...

He continued talking, completely oblivious to the situation.

"Where's Zheren and Bailey? T-There not with you? What h-happened in there? I completely lost con-"

He cut himself off when he saw the wolf girl standing behind me.

"W-who the hell is that?!"

I drew my pistol and fired.


	6. AUTHOR'S NOTE: LACK OF UPDATE

Hey guys, Just a courtesy note letting you know that there won't be an update this week, which I a'm really sorry about.  
Real life commitments got the better of me and I'm going to be busy for the next month or so.  
I will still try and continue updating the story during that period, but I can't promise the fortnightly deadline.

In any case, I have begun writing the next chapter of Wolf and Cyberpunk, trick is I need to finish it.

If you still want something to read, I've actually started writing a Fairy Tail fic.  
It's just one chapter at the moment and I won't continue updating it until I've finished Wolf and Cyberpunk.  
So if you're a fan of Fairy Tail and want something to read, feel free to have a look, it's called **"Blood Ties."**

(Shameless plugging- YAY!)

Anyway, thank you so much for reading and liking my story, it means a lot to me.  
Also constructive criticism is always welcome.  
I'll be deleting this post upon the next story update.

Thanks and again, I'm sorry.  
-RRR


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